Estonia Blacklists and Blocks 175 Gambling Sites

A small European Union country Estonia has moved in to block access to 175 gambling sites. The Estonian Tax and Customs Board has released a blacklist of 175 online gambling sites and all local internet service providers are required to block access to these sites that do not have a license in Estonia or face fines. The tax authority not only has the right to block access to the gambling sites, but also to restrict their broadcasts.

Any gambling site wanting access to Estonia would be required to get locally licensed, with some of the requirements being to set up a local Estonian company with minimum 1 million Euro capital and that the Tax Office should have an non-interfered access to these. Needless to say, most gambling operators are not willing to comply. The only online gambling site with a license so far is the Baltic casino giant Olympic Casino. This law sends out a mixed message, as Estonia has been home to some well known gambling companies like Playtech which is behind the iPoker network.

The response from the Estonian poker community has been full of rage and disappointment towards the government, with people ranting about human rights and trying to find holes in the law. A local player is saying that if they get caught of using proxies to play at any of the sites, they get fined for about 2600 Euros along with the ISP. So if you are Estonian, better not click any of the links on the following list of blacklisted gambling sites by the Estonian government.

Blacklisted Gambling Sites in Estonia

• Download a copy of the DNS blocking list by Estonian Tax Authority that was sent to press.