Another 34 offshore betting sites blocked in Italy
Italy has once again blocked additional online betting sites that operate within the country illegally. All of these companies are offshore betting sites. Italy has been the most aggressive in this area of blocking sites and now have blocked over 4500 sites in total.
Those recently blocked include Bwin.Party, Betfair and Unibet. All internet providers within Italy have until the 23rd of August to block the sites in question.
Italy spent the last six years aggressively blocking those within their borders who operate without a license to do so. This is being done to force those operators to comply with the licensing within Italy. This has proven not to be as successful as hoped as many operators find ways to bypass the blocking off their sites and continue to accept deposits from Italian customers.
It is unknown what steps Italy will take in the future to combat those who continue to defy the laws within Italy but this could include criminal charges and steep fines. It is believed that the reason many fail to move forward with licensing is due to the size of the market compared to the cost to get licensed for the Italian market.