Belgium Authorises Three Online Poker Sites For 2012
With the onset of the New Year, the Belgian Gaming Commission has announced a list of reputed online poker sites and casino that it has authorized to host internet gambling services to Belgian players. This exclusive league of betting houses comprises of three online poker rooms acknowledged by PokerStars, four online casinos and two online sportsbooks.
The three online poker rooms accredited by the Belgian Gaming Commission are PokerStars.be, Partouche.be and GPWin.be. As opposed to other European nations such as Italy and France, the aforementioned Belgian domains do not impose any restrictions on their players in regards to playing a hand with players from other countries. This implies that the game play experienced by logging into PokerStars.be will be the same as that experienced on PokerStars.com. This is in contrast with PokerStars’ domains for France and Italy. The Players on PokerStars.it and PokerStars.fr allows players to gamble with their respective fellow citizens but not international players.
GPWin.be is the Belgian extension of GoldenPalacePoker.com which in turn is part of the part of the iPoker network. A domain that does stand out is Partouche.be, as the Partouche Poker site is a French enterprise and is bound by France’s restriction on their citizens to participate in online gambling solely on French Domains. Partouche.be hence becomes a site exclusively for Belgians to gamble.
The latest Belgian Online Gaming Regulations, which were passed in 2011, have drawn fair amount of dispute because of its restrictive nature. The Regulations require by law, that the Belgians gamble online solely at the sites certified and approved by it. Failing to comply can result players facing criminal penalties. The Gaming Commission populates a list of unscrupulous sites and labels it as the “black list”. The popular ISPs in country block the IP addresses nationally of the sites mentioned on the list.
The Law also lays down that every online casino or poker room approved by the law must be associated with a brick and mortar casino. In compliance with this decree, Partouche has four casinos in Belgium.
PokerStars.be has clubbed up with Casino de Namur of the Circus Groupe. As for GPWin.be, the Golden Palace has several Belgian Casinos.
While the laws are stringent, there are certain facets of the regulation that have caused many to raise their eyebrows. The law does not state, whether or not the income earned from winnings by gambling are taxable or not. The issue however ought to be clarified when the regulation is updated. The administration demands age verification for the players on the websites. The players must be at least of 21 years of age and must verify with the cashier via paper mail on depositing or withdrawing amounts more that €3,000.
While the laws laid down have given one a clear guideline on the parties eligible for hosting online casinos, there are those who say otherwise. Party Poker and other rooms on the iPoker network still allow Belgians to play on their site. They debate that the online gaming laws might be in conflict with the European Union laws and thus encourage the Belgian to keep playing.
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