Lithuania warns poker schools over illegal sites

Lithuania’s Gambling Authority has warned poker schools over the use of illegal online poker sites on training courses.

Lithuania.- Lithuania’s Gambling Authority has warned the organisers of poker training schools after a court dismissed a case brought by a training scheme to chase payment from a former customer.

A poker training school had brought a case to court in an attempt to seek payment from a former customer that it said owed the school €15,771 as part of a contract in which the customer had agreed to play online poker at progressively more advanced levels and share 60 per cent of winnings with the school.

However, the court dismissed the case because since online poker is not regulated in Lithuania, the scheme required the customer to generate the winnings by playing poker on unlicensed sites. 

The Lithuania Gambling Authority said: “According to the court, the plaintiffs were aware that the defendant was involved in illegal gambling, thus violating not only the provisions of the Law on Gambling of the Republic of Lithuania, but also the Law on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing of the Republic of Lithuania. Consequently, the applicants are not entitled to compensation for their losses from the illegal activities.”

The regulator said that players could legally practise poker by playing offline and not for real money. The poker school may still appeal the verdict at the Vilnius Regional Court.

Last month, the government in Lithuania published a risk assessment on the money laundering risks of casinos.