Ladbrokes Falls Fouls of Belgian Gaming Regulator
Ladbrokes, the UK bookmaker and branded part of Ladbrokes Coral Group, has found itself on the bad side of the Belgian gaming regulator and may, reportedly, be banned from offering bets to anyone in the country for a day next month.
What happened?
Reports from Belgian media outlets claim that the sanction came Ladbrokes way after they were found, and admitted, to taking bets from Belgian players on the outcome of virtual sports.
Virtual sports betting, which involves taking bets on the outcome of a computer generated race, match, or other sporting event, has been essentially banned in Belgium since a law change in mid-2017.
The punishment will see all brands that Ladbrokes operates in Belgium, run by its Tierce Ladbrokes SA and Derby SA subsidiaries, will be banned from offering any services at all to gamblers in the country on September 3rd (2018).
A statement from the regulator said that Ladbrokes had “not contested the materiality of the facts” and only stopped offering virtual sports betting options when “it was legally banned from doing so.”
Lack of Notice
While admitting to the issues they are being punished for, Ladbrokes also have an issue with the regulator, claiming that they were not informed of the ban before it was released to the media, only learning about it from a third-party, with a spokesperson saying:
“[Ladbrokes]deeply regrets that such confidential information is transmitted to the press and to third parties even before it is informed”.
Ladbrokes Coral has stated it will abide by the sanction put in place despite this, but they are considering filing a lawsuit claiming breach of professional secrecy due to the regulator releasing the news to third parties prior to informing Ladbrokes of the ban that had been put in place as punishment.