Bwin.party CEO Teufelberger Acquitted of Charges in France
According to a report by GamingIntelligence, bwin.party CEO Norbert Teufelberger and former bwin CEO Manfred Bodner have been acquitted of Internet gambling charges in France.
Last month, Teufelberger and Bodner were charged with violations that dated back more than a decade when the online gambling group offered betting services to France's citizens. The charges included violating French law by offering iGaming products and receiving bets on sporting events and horse racing, as well as advertising to French players between 2003 and 2005.
Although the original complaints by French monopoly operators La Fran?aise des Jeux (FDJ) and Pari-Mutuel Urbain (PMU) were withdrawn, the case was still being pursued by France's public prosecutor who was seeking fines of �40,000 against each defendant.
French authorities arrested Teufelberger and Bodner in September 2006 at a press conference during which the company was unveiling its sponsorship of a soccer team from Monaco. It took almost seven years for French prosecutors to charge the pair, with the case to be originally heard in September 2013. The case was then rescheduled to last month due to a scheduling miscommunication.
France isn't the only country where bwin.party executives have run into trouble. Last November, Belgian authorities detained Teufelberger for the group's operations in the Belgian market since 2012 without a regulatory license. Tuefelberger was released by Belgian authorities after questioning.
Image courtesy of freeimages.com.
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