20-10-2006 Sportingbet declares France a no-go zone

"Our understanding is that we don’t have an issue in France. But following the Bwin arrests we decided that as a board we wouldn’t travel to France because we felt we were in enough hot water with the Peter Dicks situation in the US," commented Sportingbet’s new Chief Executive Andy McIver.

Earlier last week, speaking at the European i-gaming Congress in Barcelona, Bwin's Chief Executive Norbert Teufelberger said the Austrian bookmaker and other European betting companies are going to undertake a two-year lobbying and public relations campaign, because they can think of no other way to deal with the pressure the Member States' gambling monopolies are putting on private betting operators.

"We will bring information to the decision-makers," stated Norbert Teufelberger, one of the Co-Chiefs of Bwin.com who was arrested in France last month on charges related to advertising illegal gambling in France.