Bodog withdraws from 20 more countries
Serbia, Bulgaria and Estonia among affected jurisdictions - players encouraged to withdraw balances.
Bodog is set to withdraw its poker offering from 20 Eastern European and Asian countries, the operator has confirmed to eGaming Review.
Players from the affected jurisdictions, which include various Balkan and former Soviet countries, have been advised to withdraw their balances before 30 August, at which point Bodog will cease to process transactions from the territories in question. eGR is awaiting confirmation as to whether other products besides poker will be affected by the decision.
A spokesperson for the operator told eGR: “We feel it is better to concentrate on our strengths & where we can offer the best product. The Bodog brand is known for its high level of customer service & spreading ourselves too thinly to try and cover a huge amount of smaller markets was proving logistically difficult. Bodog.co.uk will concentrate on growing existing markets.”
The exits follow March’s Spanish withdrawal, and eGR understands there is no specific plan in place for a re-entry into any of the 20 countries in the future.
Three of the countries impacted by the move – Estonia, Serbia and Bulgaria – already have egaming licensing regimes in place or soon to be implemented.
In March the Bulgarian government passed a motion allowing internet service providers to block access to unlicensed egaming operators, ahead of a planned July rolling out of licences. However licences are still yet to be issued and in June the head of the country’s State Commission for Gambling Control, Kaloyan Krastev, was accused of assault by a former member of his staff.
Estonia has already issued egaming licences, with PokerStars among the recipients, and Serbian association of operators, technicians and games manufacturers JAKTA expects the former Yugoslav republic to follow suit despite complaints from the country’s gambling provider association UPIS about a deal between Sportingbet and the country’s national lottery Državna lutrija Srbije.
Another of the countries concerned, Israel, is one from which Entraction withdrew last September after being acquired by IGT.
Bodog also withdrew from the US market in December 2011, while the Bodog Poker Network was sold to Asian-facing brand licensee Bodog88 in June this year.
Full list of countries affected by Bodog withdrawal:
“¢ Armenia
“¢ Azerbaijan
“¢ Belarus
“¢ Bosnia and Herzegovina
“¢ Bulgaria
“¢ Croatia
“¢ Estonia
“¢ Hungary
“¢ Israel
“¢ Kazakhstan
“¢ Latvia
“¢ Lithuania
“¢ Macedonia
“¢ Montenegro
“¢ Romania
“¢ Russian Federation
“¢ Serbia
“¢ Slovenia
“¢ Ukraine
“¢ Uzbekistan