The reason bwin and its PartyPoker and PartyCasino sites join a number of other high profile igaming companies such as mybet, Betclic, William Hill or Betfred on the list is because it has continued to operate and take bets in Romania rather than pausing all operations until it had been officially allowed by the authorities to operate in market, according to sources close to the company.

The group’s inclusion means it will have to convince the Romanian authorities to remove it from the list, although this is understood to be hard and lengthy.    

bwin did not respond to requests for comment but iGaming Business understands the blacklisting is a big setback for the group as it was preparing for launch in the regulated Romanian market.

The Romanian authorities have been in discussions with operators to establish the amount of back taxes they will have to pay before being able to apply and receive a licence.

Operators could end up paying up to €90m in back taxes in Romania, the bulk of that amount to be paid by leading igaming groups such as bwin, Bet365, Sportingbet and PokerStars.