Bwin and Belgium Fight it Out in Court

A few weeks ago, authorities in Belgium released a black list of online casino games companies that were banned from operating within the country because they had illegally run their sites without a license. The list contained some of the best online casinos, including bwin.party.

Many top rated online casino sites were angered by the move. At the time of the blacklist, bwin.party was taking the necessary steps for licensure, but was awaiting the land-based license approved first.

Now, bwin.party and the European country are in the middle of a legal battle as Belgium has issued a counter suit to bwin.party’s initial lawsuit for their inclusion on the blacklist.

Bwin.party filed the lawsuit at the beginning of May against the country, stating that the blacklist has caused an “enormous” financial, commercial and reputational damage for the company.

Representatives of Belgium told eGaming Review, “that the counter-claim also calls for the operator to stop circumventing the block by targeting customers through other domains, as well as ordering it to refund stakes from its alleged illegal operations.”

The Belgian government is not taking the situation lightly and have made it clear that they will counter the bwin.party suit for everyday they say that the online operator continues to use marketing tactics to attract its citizens. “If they continue sending emails to players indicating on which other illegal websites of Bwin they still can gamble, they are inciting Belgian citizens to commit crimes.”