Bwin.Party restructure the players market??

New players from 18 countries of the European Union and South America will be barred from signing up to the online gaming products of the Bwin.Party network, according to an email sent to all affiliates by Bwin.Party on last friday.

Here's what the email says:

"Dear Affiliate Partner, please note that due to commercial reasons, from 30.04.2013, we will not accept new traffic relating to any of our brands for the following countries: Argentina, Armenia, Belarus, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Please remove all marketing materials of bwin.party your site until April 30, 2013. "

Many of the EU countries that are on the list have taken steps to reduce or prohibit online gambling as Greece, Poland, Romania and Cyprus. Finland and Serbia, who have their own small regulated markets are also listed.

Three South American countries such as Argentina, Brazil and Colombia will also be blocked. The reason behind this decision will likely be a mix of regulatory concern and simple cost analysis. The remaining list of countries: Armenia, Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Slovenia and Ukraine markets may represent a market too small or simply useless for bwin.party.

Attention players of these countries, players that already hold an account at Party Poker will be able to continue to playing there, this measure applies only to new player accounts starting from the day April 30, 2013.