Another challenger for Belgian online gambling black list

The Belgian Gaming Commission’s controversial blacklist of locally unlicensed online gambling operators has another opponent, with BetClic Everest subsidiary Bet-At-Home.com following Bwin Party in launching a legal challenge.

The blacklist supports the Belgian strategy of ISP blocking as a way of dealing with what it considers to be illegal operators accessing Belgian punters. Under Belgian law, that nation’s major Internet Service Providers are required to block domains of operators within 30 days of their being added to the black list.

News of the fresh challenge surfaced this week on the DLAPiper law blog, which advised that Bet-At-Home has initiated legal action in the Brussels Court of First Instance in Belgium, an EU member nation that has been accused of figuratively thumbing its nose at EU law and decisions handed down by the European Court of Justice concerning internet gambling.

Bet-At-Home cites the Belgian Minister of Justice in its litigation, basing its claim for removal from the blacklist on the argument that such listing and blocking is illegal in terms of data protection and European eCommerce directives.

The case will be heard on July 16, although industry observers do not hold out too much hope for success, given the same court’s rejection of a Bwin Party action earlier this year .

The publication Gambling Compliance notes that there are now 35 companies blacklisted by the Belgians.