French online gambling operator Betclic Everest Group has shut its operations in Belgium just one year after joining the country’s regulated online market.

In May 2016, Betclic Everest launched its Belgian-licensed Betclic.be sports betting and casino site. The site was a partnership with the Ardent Group (the former Circus Group), in keeping with local regulations requiring online gambling sites to team with a land-based gaming operator.

Fast forward to last week, when Belgian media quoted Ardent CEO Emmanuel Mewissen saying that Betclic had decided to “reposition itself on the French market.” Mewissen suggested that Betclic’s late arrival in Belgium put the company at a disadvantage compared to other operators who’d launched Belgian-licensed operations years earlier.

Betclic had indeed taken the long road to winning its Belgian license. The company spent years on the Belgian Gaming Commission’s blacklist of unauthorized online gambling domains, yet continued to serve Belgian punters until the BGC seized €600k of company funds and slapped €200 fines on 79 local punters who’d been caught gambling with the unapproved site.