Unibet.com was not invited to participate in the Dauphiné Libéré cycling race earlier this month, and the team's directeur sportif asked "Will we also get turned down for the Flèche Wallonne, Liège-Bastigne-Liège and the Tour de France?” Less than 7 days later, two of those three fears have come to be. French race organizer ASO left Unibet off the list for both the Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Flèche Wallonne.
ASO says that Unibet.com, an online gambling company, violates French law. In brief, the law only allows government run online gaming be available to French citizens. ASO went on to say that if they allow the Unibet.com sponsored cycling squad to compete then the ASO themselves would be breaking French law.
But, both the Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Flèche Wallonne take place Belgium. ASO said that Belgium has similar laws to France and as a result ASO will not allow the team to start the races. Belgian national lottery Lotto said in March that it would take legal action against Unibet.com. A spokesperson for Lotto said "Unibet is not authorized to develop its business, nor publicize it in Belgium. From here begins the problems of Unibet.com."
Unibet.com has paid a bond of over two million Euros to the ASI, the sports governing body, to ensure their status as a ProTour team. As a result Unibet is in theory entitled to an entry to every race in the ProTour. To date Unibet.com has been omitted from seven events.
Chances are that the Unibet.com cycling team will be watching from the sidelines come the 1st of July when cycling’s penultimate event, the Tour de France starts.
