The Belgian Gambling Commission has approved an agreement between bwin.party and Belcasinos, a subsidiary of the largest owner of land-based casinos in Belgium, Groupe Partouche, which enables bwin.party to offer online gambling in the country.
Belcasinos is one of just four land-based casino operators in Belgium eligible to apply for a licence to operate online poker and casinos. The agreement will see bwin.party and Belcasinos work together to offer online sports betting, poker and casino games.
Partouche already runs its own online casino in Belgium, using one of four licences that it can apply for, and the group expects to be successful in obtaining the additional licence necessary to offer online sports betting.
The move follows last month’s arrest of the outgoing joint CEO of bwin.party, Norbert Teufelberger, who was questioned regarding the company’s online operations in Belgium. In the country, only operators that have a licence to run a land-based gambling business can apply for an online gaming licence.
The law excludes internet-only operators and saw a dispute develop between bwin.party and the Belgian authorities, with three of the online gaming group's websites being blacklisted and culminating in Teufelberger’s arrest.
The Belgian Gambling Commission has now begun the process of unblocking the sites and has agreed to drop all pending legal disputes, while bwin.party is adapting its systems to comply fully with the prevailing licensing regime.
Teufelberger and Jim Ryan, co-CEOs of bwin.party, said they were excited to have reached an agreement with Partouche: “Following recent developments in Belgium and after further dialogue with the local regulator, we have put our differences of opinion behind us and are now focused on the immediate commercial opportunity.“
"Together with our new partner we are now in the process of securing the necessary approvals to meet the requirements set by the BGC and do not expect any interruption to our service for customers in Belgium."
