Hungarian and Turkish regulators ban online operators

The national gambling regulatory bodies of Hungary and Turkey have announced a number of banning orders on online gaming operators.

The Hungarian Gambling Supervision Department has added various websites to its list of unlicensed operators.

High-profile operators such as Ladbrokes, bwin.party and Bet365 are amongst the latest gambling companies to be added to the country’s blacklist.

The operators have been banned from offering services in Hungary after allegedly targeting consumers in the country without having received official authorisation from regulators.

Meanwhile, a joint campaign by the Turkish National Lottery and domestic telecommunications authority TIB has seen the country block access to a total of 110 gambling websites in the last five years.

According to the Worldbulletin.net website, the two bodies have been working together to combat online betting and gambling over a number of years.

A report released by TIB on Monday stated that the telecommunications authority blocked access to the websites on the grounds that they were providing online gambling services.

The National Lottery demanded action against 440 websites during the period in question.

Although land-based gambling premises were shut down in the country in 1997, many of these services have been transferred online, with technological development allowing for the opening of illegal betting websites.

The national government passed a law in 2007 to outlaw such activity in an effort to help combat problem gambling and protect state revenues.

In addition, TIB was given the authority to block access to online gambling and betting websites in November 2007.

Source: http://www.igamingbusiness.com/