Belgium annulls Casinos Austria iGaming licence

The Belgian Council of State has annulled Casinos Austria International’s iGaming licence and endangered Betway’s operations in the country.

Belgium.- Belgium’s Council of State decided to annul the decision to grant Casinos Austria International (CAI) an iGaming licence. The decision could endanger the future of its sub-licensee Betway in the country.

Casinos Austria operates the Grand Casino Brussels Visage which had its licence challenged by gaming hall operator Rocoluc in 2015. They accused Betway of offering both online casino games and sports betting via its dot.be domain. They said that doing so via a single outlet was discriminatory.

After several rulings, the Council of State, the highest administrative court in the country, decided against CAI. However, Betway is unlikely to go offline immediately.

Further hits on Betway

On November 2017, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists unveiled the Paradise Papers investigation and revealed millions of documents related to offshore investments linked with a ton of companies from all segments. Betway was criticised back then over its financial flows and alleged links with illegal sites, which is why the Belgian Gaming Commission has decided to start sanction proceedings against the operator.

Belgium’s gaming regulator has accused Betway of “a lack of transparency” and pointed to its accumulation of licences, an illegal practice in the country. A spokeswoman for the Commission even said that its conclusions will be sent to the Special Tax Inspectorate, the Public Prosecutor and the financial information watchdog.