Norbert Teufelberger had been speaking at an EGBA conference in Brussels on Tuesday, November 13, when he was taken in for questioning over the availability of bwin.party's websites in Belgium.
The joint chief executive had completed his presentation at the Responsible Gaming Day event when police asked Teufelberger to attend questioning at 2pm local time (1pm GMT).
Bwin.party issued a statement confirming that Teufelberger had not been arrested. "He complied voluntarily with this request and is co-operating fully with the authorities'" the statement said.
A second statement, issued by bwin.party today, said the company maintained the position that it is acting “in compliance with applicable laws.”
“Yesterday’s interview lasted for two hours, after which Mr Teufelberger, who had been chairing an industry conference about responsible gaming and regulation, left Belgium as originally planned,” it continued.
In the statement, Teufelberger and co-CEO Jim Ryan said: “We continue to strive for a regulatory framework in European member states that is compliant with EU law.”
In Belgium, only operators that have a licence to run a land-based gambling business in the country can apply for an online gaming licence. The law excludes internet-only operators and has seen a dispute develop between bwin.party and the Belgian authorities, with three of the online gaming group's websites being blocked in the country.
As the news of Teufelberger's questioning broke, shares in bwin.party fell - ending the day down four per cent at 113.3p.
