Lithuanian regulator warns illegal operators of potential blocking
The Lithuanian Gaming Control Authority has declared that it would be blocking all unlicenced operators if they keep on providing online gambling in Lithuania without having a permit or a licence.
Operators in the country need the correct licence to be allowed to legally provide their content in Lithuania, and all those who do not hold the correct licence, or hold one at all, are considered to be illegal operators. The laws in Lithuania allow for the Control Authority to be the one to take action against any unlicenced operators, and it even holds the power to block access to their sites.
All operators that are blocked in the country are then added onto the blacklist of illegal operators, which can be found on the Control Authority’s website. If said operator acquires the correct licence to provide its services in the country, then it can be removed from the blacklist.
The Control Authority declared:
“The Control Authority strongly recommends all online gambling operators review all their activities related to remote gambling in Lithuania and take actions to ensure that such services are not available for Lithuanian customers. After having identified the fact of illegal remote gambling activity in the Republic of Lithuania, the Control Authority is authorised to take measures established in the Gaming Law.”
This warning follows on from the first ever fine imposed by the Gambling Supervisory Authority last month when the operator of CBet was asked to pay a €15,000 fine for unreasonably setting betting limits on a client. During the same month, the authority fined one of the employees of a media business when they placed illegal advertisements for gambling on krepšinis.net, which is a basketball news site.
The site had been hosting gambling advertisements and even featuring bonuses which are all illegal in Lithuania and did not have the compulsory warnings which have to come with gambling ads.