Romanian regulator publishes first egaming blacklist
Titanbet and Bodog among sites listed as offering "unauthorised gaming" in newly-regulated market
Romania’s gambling regulator has published its first egaming blacklist just days after issuing the country’s first-ever licences to a handful of online gambling operators.
The 48-strong list of “unauthorised gaming” URLs has appeared on the regulator’s site, with a note explaining that operators will only be removed if they pay a taxes based on their revenues earned since 26 December 2010.
Sites listed include several of TitanBet’s dot.com domains, Bodog.eu, AllStarSlots.com and various dot.eu and dot.ag URLs.
The move follows this week’s news that the National Office for Gambling (ONJN) had issued its first egaming licences to Stanleybet, NetBet and Winmasters.
Betfair looks set to join them having agreed to meet Romania’s back tax requirement in order to obtain a licence for the recently re-regulated country.
According to a source in Romania, other major operators remain in the process of calculating whether or not payment of the retrospective levy is commercially viable.
Last month William Hill announced it was closing down its Romanian operations as a result of what is described as “recent regulatory developments” while back in January Ladbrokes similarly withdrew as part of a broader cull of its grey market operations.