Playtech and Euro Partners (a subsidiary affiliate of Playtech) are rumored to be pulling out of the Finnish and Dutch markets, meaning players based on Finnish or Dutch soil will have to cash in their chips within the next few weeks or lose them for good.
There has been no official word from either Euro Partners or Playtech, but where there is smoke you will always find a sneaky little grass smoking a lit one, as seems to be the case in this news story.
According to a smattering of online gambling news outlets an ‘inside source’ has told the press to expect Euro Partners to withdraw from the Finnish and Dutch markets within the next month.
This means all Playtech casinos operating under the Euro Partners affiliate program will no longer be available to Finnish and Dutch citizens, if the rumors turn out to be true.
Casinos affected are the likes of Bellini Casino, Vegas Red Casino, Europa Casino and Casino Tropez. The word on Marvin’s grapevine is that Playtech themselves will also withdraw from the two countries in question should Euro Partners forge onwards with its plans.
Playtech must have had a pretty stellar Q3 celebratory party after total revenue came in at €90.6m, a 13% improvement year-on-year, pointing the finger of scrutiny away from a financial reason for leaving the two aforementioned markets and instead pointing it at a regulatory one.
It seems the good old ‘grey market’ gambling regulations strike again as some form of fine print as given Euro Partners the heebie-jeebies much to the disgruntlement of the Finnish and Dutch gamblers.
Playtech’s European markets accounted for 64% of that revenue with the Asian markets taking a 25% slice leaving 11% for the rest of the world.
Players residing in these countries, that have Euro Partners accounts, are being advised to withdraw their funds from the sites without any official word coming from either parties to stop them, which is a sure fire message that the rumors are indeed true.
More on this as it breaks…
