One of the biggest online gambling companies leaves Hungary

Bet365, one of the biggest online gambling companies, is to leave Hungary on 20 November. The customers can access their account until 4 December.

According to 444.hu, one of the world’s biggest online gambling companies is to suspend its activities in Hungary after 20 November. The company headquartered in Great Britain informed their Hungarian users on Friday about the decision. Interestingly, one of the readers of 444.hu said the website of bet365 has been unreachable for months. Of course, there were some alternative solutions to access the page.

The firm said all bets started on or before 17 November will be settled like before. All prizes will be credited to the customer accounts just like before. Players may enter their account until 4 December. That is also the deadline for initiating payments from their account. Afterwards, they will not be able to do so only with the company’s help.

From 17 November, you will not be able to create a bet365 account from a Hungarian address. Furthermore, players with a Hungarian address will not be able to bet from 20 November. On 4 December, they will terminate all accounts attached to a Hungarian address, pokerakademia.com summed up.

New Hungarian government rules made bet365 leave?

Photo: FB/lasvegassofitel

Bet365 has been operating since spring 2001. At the end of 2019, they had to make their website inaccessible in 47 countries. Hungary also tried to ban online betting before, except for the online gambling company of a government oligarch group’s firm and the state-owned Szerencsejáték Zrt. In 2017, bet365’s competitor, Unibet, won a lawsuit against the Hungarian state.

Interestingly, at the beginning of 2023, the government started to liberalise the online gambling market. As a result, the aforementioned government-close company led by Árpád Habony and István Garancsi could enter the market. We wrote about PM Orbán’s secret advisor, Árpád Habony, in THIS article.

However, the Orbán cabinet prescribed some rules that made it hard for foreign companies to remain in Hungary as a service provider. Having a Hungarian license became compulsory. For example, in the case of Unibet, they had to modify the contact of their website twice. Pokerakademia.com believes bet365 leaves Hungary because of the new rules the government introduced.

Read also:

• Government-close businessmen taking over online betting in Hungary? – Read more in THIS article
• Read about the Budapest Pinball Museum HERE