Unibet on Lithuanian gambling regulator’s black list

Lithuania’s Gaming Control Authority criticised Unibet, for allegedly breaching its online gambling policies.

Lithuania.- Lithuania’s Gaming Control Authority (GCA) has publically criticised European online betting operator Unibet, for allegedly breaching its online gambling policies.

Under current GCA laws, operators with Lithuanian land based assets are the only ones allowed to offer online gambling services. Losimu Strategine Grupe, which operates under the brand of TonyBet, Orakulas and Olympic Casino Group are the only operators allowed to operate online gambling services in Lithuania.

Back in January and under the authority of Lithuania’s Ministry of Finance, the GCA issued a blacklist including Unibet, William Hill and Betway amongst European operators deemed to have breached national gambling laws. The regulator stated that Unibet had breached laws by advertising services to Lithuanian consumers.

Lithuania President Dalia Grybauskaitė granted the GCA more power to restrict the services of operators deemed to be unlicensed, giving the regulator the right to block ISP and penalising banks for processing transactions with unlicensed betting operators.

GCA governance stated that the operator had been ‘purposely malicious’ claiming that its market presence was ‘infringing legal requirements of the Republic of Lithuania by continually changing internet domain names systematically and persisting in violating the Gaming Law.’

Unibet replied to the GCA and Lithuanian government’s actions affirming that its gambling laws and frameworks were currently ‘unenforceable.’