Belgium’s gambling regulator has added a further 16 domains to its blacklist of unlicensed online gambling websites.

The blacklist, first introduced in 2012, now includes a total of 277 domains that have been found to have offered games of chance without a licence.

The 16 sites, added to the list on September 15, include Evobet.com, Winorama.com and Cloudbet.com. Some 28 domains were added in July, with four in June.

Players are liable to a criminal penalty of up to €25,000 if they play on these sites, with operators facing possible fines of up to €100,000.

“It is forbidden for anyone to operate a game of chance without a license previously granted by the Gaming Commission. It is also prohibited for anyone to participate in an illegal game of chance, facilitate its exploitation or advertise it,” the Gaming Commission said.

The Lithuanian Gambling Supervisory Authority has issued a €10,814 fine to operator Unigames for organising gambling “outside the gambling regulation”.

An inspection carried out by the regulator found that the combined betting function used by Unigames’ via a BetBuilder feature were outside of the requirements specified in the company’s rules.

The regulator determined that this product, which allows players to create their own multiple bets on single sporting events, was not permitted in the country.

A ban on various forms of gambling promotion – such as bonuses – was recently implemented in Lithuania in July.

A statement from the regulator said: “The company has been warned about the possible violation of the license… and is obliged to eliminate the violation within the set term.

“This is the second decision after the Gambling Act gave the Gambling Supervisory Authority the right to impose economic sanctions on gambling organizers.”

Norway’s government is planning to block the foreign websites that offer gambling products targeting the Norwegian market.

The call to block such sites is being led by Minister of Culture Abid Raja, who is using his last days in government to announce the proposal. Companies such as Betsson, Unibet and ComeOn would all be impacted by the potential block.

Worryingly for these companies, and indeed many others, the proposal looks likely to have parliamentary support, having been expected for several years now. A majority in Storting (the Norwegian parliament) supported the proposal in 2018.

Raja’s recent calls for a block on gambling sites come in a bid to strengthen the Norwegian gambling monopoly, as well as push more players to Norsk Tipping, the national lottery in Norway. However, the Minister of Culture also believes the websites are circumventing the laws within the country, and are doing very little to protect problem gamblers.

“These companies do what they can to circumvent Norwegian law. With blocking, we will be able to stop them. We will go as far as possible to get rid of these companies,” Raja said.

Rolf Sims, Kindred Group (Unibet) PR Manager in Norway, said the company would like to read the proposal in its entirety before commenting on the situation.