Lithuania Suspends Online Gambling During Lockdown
Since the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, as at today, Lithuania has over 1,000 confirmed cases and over 100 deaths have been reported. Government of Lithuania has locked down its country by prohibiting the entry of most foreigners and locals from traveling abroad since 16th March 2020. Lithuanian Gambling Authority (LGA) mentioned that few operators have ignored the lockdown order and they have taken action to suspend all online gambling advertisements.
The LGA explained the reason for suspending all online gambling advertisements due to the ignorance from operators after they have sent letters to them on 1st April. From the letters, The European Gambling and Betting Association (EGBA) has been required to opt for responsible advertising practices by reducing scale of advertisement. It will create issues if problem gamblers are highly exposed to online gambling advertising during lock down.
Meanwhile, the LGA also points out that operators not just ignore the advice, yet they have increased the volume of online gambling ads on web pages. One of them which they have discovered was on Basketnews.It whereby the advertisement from OlyBet and krepsinis.net has been increased. Besides, popular brands like Betsafe owned by Betsson have also expanded its advertisement frequency.
The ignorance of such order has resulted in all online gambling advertisements being suspended by the LGA on 8th April 2020. Not long ago, Lithuania’s neighbor Latvia has announced its lockdown and prohibition on all online gambling ads as well. The emergency bill was updated and signed by its president Egils Levits on 22nd March 2020. Initially, online gambling has been left out and wasn’t clear on the bill till 6th April 2020.
