Online gambling group’s expansion hampered by UK regulations
Wednesday 22nd August 2007
Austrian online gaming firm Bwin, a company with online sports betting, casino and poker interests, may have to cancel any prospect of setting up operations in Belize after the country failed to make the UK’s ‘white list’.
The gaming operator has a licence to operate in Belize but has yet to set up offices on the island that has been effectively blacklisted from the ‘white list’, which includes areas such as the channel island of Alderney, of non-EEA areas that are exempt from the upcoming September 1st ban on foreign gambling companies promoting their services on UK TV, radio and other forms of media.
According to an article by news agency Reuters, Belize has been excluded from the list because its regulation of the online gambling industry failed to meet the UK’s strict standards.
Huge O’Brian, Chief Executive Officer in Belize’s Ministry of National Development, which has responsibility for online gambling, is puzzled by the UK’s decision arguing that the country has met all the necessary criteria set out by the 2004 Online Gaming Regulations Act.
