As the number of online gamblers has doubled in four years, several organisations are now calling on Belgium's Federal Government to strengthen its gambling policy against the dangers of addiction.
The number of people with an online player account with one or more operators almost doubled since 2018, a report from the Gaming Commission shows; in 2018, a total of 343,846 players had such a player account, in 2022 this number had risen to 634,845. The daily average of the number of online players is also rising quickly: from 63,122 players in 2018 to 141,225 players in 2022.
"We are pleased that the government has introduced an advertising ban on gambling, as well as a tightening of the age limit," said the organisations, which include Test-Achats, Solidaris, the Brussels Debt Mediation Centre, the Belgian Network Against Poverty, among others, in a joint statement.
"However, we fear that these measures do not go far enough and ask therefore that additional measures be taken (both on the private market and at the National Lottery), and this is in the interest of all players," they added.
Dangerous trends
The gambling market recorded nearly €18 billion (€17,780,000,000) worth of online bets in 2021. An average player would wager approximately €355 per game day.
This means that the average daily bet is well above the "limit of the maximum weekly bet by default" as established in the Royal Decree of 2022 (maximum €200 per week/site) – which many players systematically increase, including by gambling on many different sites.
Looking at the gambling market as a whole, as much as €23.3 billion was wagered in Belgium in 2021 – an increase of €4 billion compared to 2018.
"These are dangerous trends," the signatories said. "Even though there are people who can afford it financially, the dangers online are too great for a much larger group of vulnerable people."
Credit: Belga
While consumer organisations recognised that the government has, in recent years, taken several measures to improve the structure of the gambling market to better protect gamblers, they also stressed that additional measures are needed as the existing measures – that are largely based on self-regulation – do not work in practice.
Last week, the Federal Parliament voted on the bill to amend the law of 7 May 1999 on games of chance. The organisations, in particular, find the fact that the age limit for gambling has been set at 21 is a major step forward.
Given the seriousness of the situation, they are calling on the Federal Government to start developing a central player database managed by the Gaming Commission.
"This makes monitoring the betting limits across the websites much easier and also offers better follow-up and care options," they said. "Such a register is also an ideal opportunity to conduct high-quality research into the gambling problem (subject to anonymisation)."
'Addiction is not loyalty'
As enforcement of the existing rules is essential, they are also urging the authorities to make extra investments in the oversight bodies. On top of that, they are also calling for a ban on the riskiest games, such as live betting, (online) slot machines and roulette games.
"The autoplay function (which speeds up the game pace) can make a game particularly risky and should also be banned," they added. "The licensing policy should be tightened to further limit the supply (number of permits, number of games or players/permit)."
Additional boundaries are also needed, which is why there is a need for more moderators. "The gambling sites currently allow the player to set limits (such as for daily loss), but practice shows that such self-regulation is not effective in the fight against gambling addictions. These limits should be more strictly defined for persons under 25. Extra restrictions for young people are essential to protect them from such addictions later."
Casino of Dinant. Credit: Belga / Laurie Dieffembacq
People who are included on the register of the Central Office for Credit to Private Individuals (CKP) – which fights against excessive private debt in Belgium – should automatically be placed on the Excluded Persons Information System (EPIS) list.
Currently, the law only provides for a check by the CKP on requests to increase the playing limit. But people who are in a voluntary debt mediation process should also be prevented from increasing their game limit, the organisations added.
The role of the banking sector and that of other payment institutions should also be further examined, through payment blocking, among other things, but also the prohibition of payments on a prepaid card via a credit system, for example.
Lastly, they stressed that a stricter framework for loyalty programmes is needed. "Addiction is not loyalty. Since the advertising ban for gambling has been in effect since 2023, this evolution is being monitored even more closely. It is not inconceivable that advertising budgets will be used for such programmes and tournaments."
