UK gambling operators can’t advertise on Kim Dotcom’s Megaupload reboot

Tech entrepreneur Kim Dotcom plans to relaunch his Megaupload file-sharing site but UK-licensed online gambling operators better not be caught advertising on it.

The New Zealand-based Megaupload.com was shut down in 2012 after Dotcom was indicted by US authorities for allowing US-held copyrighted material to be stored on the site. Dotcom, who continues to fight extradition to the US, recently tweeted that he plans to relaunch the site on Jan. 20, 2017, five years to the day that the original site was shut down.

The new site will reportedly feature encrypted storage and involve Bitcoin technology. Specifics weren’t disclosed, but Dotcom claimed that “Megaupload and Bitcoin had sex. There is a pregnancy and I have a feeling that the baby will be such a joy.”

Before Megaupload was unceremoniously yanked offline, online gambling operators had been among its biggest advertisers. The PartyGaming brand of UK-listed online gambling operator Bwin.party (since acquired by GVC Holdings) spent over $3m advertising on the site between 2009 and 2011, accounting for roughly 1/8 of Megaupload’s total advertising revenue.