Slovakian gambling site blacklist includes William Hill, Bet365

Gaming giants such as William Hill and Bet365 are among the sites set to be blocked in Slovakia after featuring in the country’s first-ever online gambling blacklist.

The list includes online gambling domains that the Slovak authorities regard as unacceptable and untrustworthy due to their providing local players with services without a local licence.

The 10 names on the initial list also include 888Holdings, Bwin and Bet-at-Home.

The Ministry of Finance issued a note saying it had issued warning notices to a total of 17 online gambling operators. Of the seven operators not on the blacklist, two had withdrawn their services from Slovakia voluntarily, while five more had been given 10 days in which to terminate their local operations.

The blacklisted domains have yet to be officially blocked, although the ministry claims to be seeking court orders to implement specific domain blocks in the coming weeks.

Last year, Slovakia amended its gambling regulations to require sports betting sites to acquire local licenses and pay 27% tax on gross gaming revenue. At the same time, the government preserved the state-owned online casino and poker monopoly of the TIPOS national lottery operator.

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