diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/TopicFilter.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/TopicFilter.scala
index cf3853b..e3d0f99 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/TopicFilter.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/consumer/TopicFilter.scala
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ sealed abstract class TopicFilter(rawRegex: String) extends Logging {
 }
 
 case class Whitelist(rawRegex: String) extends TopicFilter(rawRegex) {
-  override def requiresTopicEventWatcher = !regex.matches("""[\p{Alnum}-|]+""")
+  override def requiresTopicEventWatcher = true
 
   override def isTopicAllowed(topic: String) = {
     val allowed = topic.matches(regex)
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/consumer/TopicFilterTest.scala b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/consumer/TopicFilterTest.scala
index 40a2bf7..94d59d4 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/consumer/TopicFilterTest.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/unit/kafka/consumer/TopicFilterTest.scala
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ class TopicFilterTest extends JUnitSuite {
   def testWhitelists() {
 
     val topicFilter1 = new Whitelist("white1,white2")
-    assertFalse(topicFilter1.requiresTopicEventWatcher)
+    assertTrue(topicFilter1.requiresTopicEventWatcher)
     assertTrue(topicFilter1.isTopicAllowed("white2"))
     assertFalse(topicFilter1.isTopicAllowed("black1"))