Home	Tutorial	Online Casino Reviews	Best Online Casinos	Casino Software	Casino News

Online Casino Gambling --- Casino News

Major Names Blocked

Several of the more prominent European facing online casino gambling companies have been tossed out on their hides this week – but not in any sort of official capacity from the European government. In actuality, the Estonian government is making some controversial new regulations this month that have massively effected the major gambling groups that have long enjoyed carte blanche access to the Estonian market. The Estonian government officials announced a formal list of online casinos that have now been specifically blocked from the Estonian market until 2011. This list includes names such as Bwin, Full Tilt, Party Poker, PokerStars, and Unibet, among other smaller gambling sites that were also operating in that market.

The controversial new Estonian online casino gambling regulations are not likely to make the gambling companies themselves very happy. In fact, it’s pretty standard in the industry right now to ignore and circumvent excessively protectionist gambling policies. Bwin in particular has really spent the past year fighting for fair entry into several monopolized gambling markets, and it’s doubtful that the company plans to just quietly leave the Estonian gambling market. The Estonian government announced that online casinos that do not comply with the blocked list of gambling sites will face some actually pretty minor fines – the real threat comes from officials claiming that rogue sites will not obtain legal licensing when the time comes.

This new Estonian situation is actually nothing very new for the online casinos, they are pretty accustomed to restrictive legislation that refuses to comply with EU standards and policies. To be fair, Estonian officials claim that the block is only very temporary, and that foreign gambling sties will have legal access to the market in 2011 – that’s not likely going to be a policy or request that flies with these operators who don’t fancy losing nearly a year’s worth of potential revenue.