The Flemish Media Regulator (VRM) has fined Dutch broadcaster VRT €10,000 for breaching gambling advertising laws during football matches.
The Regulator conducted spontaneous checks on VRT broadcasts of the Conference League and the Europa League on 21 September, 5 October and 26 October 2023. It found that the station aired two separate gambling advertisements during half-time on each occasion. This is in breach of the Royal Decree of 2022, which stipulates that sponsored gambling advertisements can only be shown 15 minutes before and after a live sports broadcast.
In addition, it is illegal to depict "real-life" people or use voiceovers from well-known figures or fictional characters, but the advertisements in question included visuals of football supporters.
The VRM acknowledged that this was likely a mistake since it is VRT's first offence of this kind. However, it emphasised the societal impact of gambling advertising, especially since in this case "the violations included several broadcasts that reached a wide audience."
Betting in Belgium
The number of online gamblers in Belgium doubled in four years, soaring from 343,846 in 2018 to 634,845 in 2022. An estimated €18 billion was placed in bets in 2021. Based on this figure, the average person betting spends €355 per game day when the Royal Decree states that the maximum weekly limit is €200.
As part of the response to increasingly addictive tendencies, advertising laws in Belgium became markedly more stringent in January, when bans extended to logos on sports jerseys and banners in stadiums. In addition, the minimum age for betting in all its forms rose from 18 to 21.
While organisations such as the Brussels Network Against Poverty, Solidaris and Test-Achats welcome anti-addiction legislation, they call for improved measures that are less reliant on self-regulation in light of the above "dangerous trends".
