Belgian Court Rules: Bwin Remains Blacklisted

Request for removal from banned operators list refused This wasn't a good week for the major European online gambling operator Bwin in legal terms, as it has suffered a bitter defeat when a Belgian law court rejected its appeal against the validity of the Belgian government's controversial blacklist-and-ban strategy to protect the local market. According to Bwin, due to being blacklisted, it has suffered "enormous financial, commercial and reputational damage". However, after a preliminary legal fight on May 25, the issue was sent to the Court of First Instance in Brussels this week, which rejected the Bwin argument as having 'no legal merit'. Whether Bwin wants to pursue the issue further is not known at present; so far it has expressed its strong disagreement with what it called Belgium's discriminatory online gambling licensing requirements, which it says “fly in the face of EU law.” Also, even before the ruling, it continued to service its Belgian players despite general industry warnings by the government and demanded damages for lost business for every day that the Belgian Gaming Commission kept it on the blacklist, prompting the Commission to counter sue with a similar claim regarding Bwin's 'illegal' activities. However, the court ruling did not support the Commission's financial claims in this regard despite backing it on the blacklist.