The beginning of the new year has brought yet more news about online casinos in different countries in Europe. We first learn that those casino players who love to play online slots in the country of Belgium are not greeted with the best of news. This time around Belgium is moving forward with its harsh and unjust new online gambling regulation, without taking into account any criticism at all. Beginning in the first month of 2012 different Internet service providers or ISP’s including Telenet, Belgacom, Base and Mobistar are now required by law to block online gambling web sites that do not have a license which allows them to operate in the country. The Belgian Gaming Commission has already provided ISP’s with preliminary black lists of online gambling sites that are currently active in Belgium but that are not licensed under the new regulations.
In the mean time, some reports coming out of Greece have stated that the country is now facing difficulties in dealing with unlicensed online gambling operators including those that offer free online slot games. Greek members of parliament learned more about the matter by Evgenios Giannakopoulos, the president of the Committee of Surveillance and Control of Gaming. Giannakopoulos has stated that companies involved in unlicensed gambling in Greece earn about €7 billion a year in revenues that are not taxed. Therefore, this means loss of millions of euros for the government’s treasury. It appears that now tracking down the illegal gaming companies is extremely hard and time consuming and the committee will begin getting results only in about six months from now.
The Eurasian country of Georgia, in contrast, has an online casino practice that is moving forward. The growth of online casinos in this country is double that of the global rate. Many believe this can be traced to increasing Internet access in the country. Launching an online casino in Georgia is actually easier that getting a license in any other jurisdiction.
