Blacklists in the News — Weekly Round-up for July 21, 2017

By Brian Cullingworth, Last updated Jul 21, 2017

Russian Internet Watchdog Adds E-Sports Domains To Blacklist

Roskomnadzor claims that eSports skin betting involves minors in games of chance

The Russian telecomms watchdog Roskomnadzor is clearly monitoring the burgeoning eSports industry, judging by some of its latest online gambling site black listings, which include several eSports domains.

The domains are held by eSports operators who allow betting on skins (tradeable in-game accessories and weapons that are used as a betting currency)

A spokesman for the watchdog told local media that there are concerns around the involvement of minors in gambling on the games.

First Slovak Blacklist Published

Majority are prominent operators

Slovakia’s Finance Ministry has named market leading operators in its inaugural edition of a fairly compact domain and payment blacklist comprising ten unlicensed online gambling operators.

The list, which currently comprises bwin, William Hill, Bet-At-Home, 1xBet, LVBet, bet365, 888, SportingBull, EatSleepBet and Kajot Casinodomains, will be updated on a weekly basis.

The Ministry said, prior to publishing the list, it had addressed emails to 17 web site operators which led to two offers being withdrawn from the market and a further ten submitting a declaration on the Ministry’s financial administration portal.

The Ministry will escalate action on operators published in the blacklist with a court filing that will request permission to block access through ISP’s and banking institutions and the possibility of a Euro 500,000 penalty.

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