With the Galway Races happening this week, the betting industry is all a flutter as – for a few days at least – the country tries to forget we are broke. Far from the madding Ballybrit crowd, however, Boylesports has hit a bit of a snag in Bulgaria of all places.

With legislation still in the pipeline in Ireland, Bulgaria was out ahead of the pack with new online gambling laws last year. As part of the regime, it keeps a blacklist of unlicensed sites and blocks access to them.

During the week, it added about 20 new sites to the list, bringing the total to almost 100.

Unfortunately for John Boyle, six of the new additions were his.

Partner blacklisted
Boylesports main website, along with an assortment of its poker, casino and lotto sites, has been blacklisted in Bulgaria.

Boylesports, which sponsors Galway Bay FM for the duration of the racing festival, said it uses a third-party provider for its e-gaming sites in Bulgaria, and its partner is blacklisted. Back to the starting gate, lads.