bwin.party Suspending New Signups in Over a Dozen Markets

A sudden shift in strategy on the part of bwin.party today, as the company announced intentions to shut off new signups from over a dozen countries.

The announcement was made via email to affiliates. As of the end of April, all of the bwin.party online gambling brands, including PartyPoker, will stop accepting new registrations from the following countries:

Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the Ukraine.

Players from those countries can still sign up – for now

But players from those countries who already have an account will be able to continue to access the full range of bwin.party products.

So, if I’m understanding it correctly, players from the impacted countries can make an account before the end of April and still be able to access bwin.party products going forward.

Why is bwin.party making this decision?

The email did not offer any insight into the reasoning behind bwin.party’s decision, citing only “commercial reasons” for the change. The consensus appears to be that the company is motivated by legal concerns / a desire to scrub the company prior to regulatory scrutiny in the United States:

Bwin.party begins grey market exit strategy bit.ly/13mx6uo

— eGaming Review (@egamingreview) April 19, 2013

@joetall @opreport & PKR announced today it’s closing Belgium. Betfair, Party & others all doing this as they shift away from grey markets.

— James Barnes (@JamesBarnesEsq) April 19, 2013

Of the countries listed, only Greece was mentioned in the “Regulatory Overview” section of Party’s 2012 annual report.

bwin launches in Belgium

Today also brought a second announcement from bwin.party: The company’s Belgian site, bwin.be, is now “fully licensed for all products in Belgium,” per a separate email sent to affiliates a few minutes before the email announcing the soon-to-be-banned countries.

The bwin.be launched earlier this week. It’s not clear if there’s any connection between the launch of the Belgian site and the decision to shut off sign ups from the aforementioned countries.

Below find the full text of the announcement sent to affiliates of bwin.party:

Dear affiliate partner!

Please note that due to commercial reasons, as of 30.04.2013, we will no longer be accepting new traffic for any of our brands from the following countries:

Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the Ukraine.

Please remove all relevant bwin.party marketing materials from your website by 30.04.2013.

Commission on existing traffic in these markets will continue to be paid according to our Standard Terms and Conditions.

We thank you for your co-operation and would like to apologise for any inconvenience that these changes may cause.

Should you have any queries, please contact us at: a[email protected]

All the best,
Your bwin.party partners team