Gambling addiction has become a grave social problem in Belgium in recent years, with the problem worsening considerably since the legalisation of gambling advertising in 2021. Despite this, the liberal Francophone party Mouvement Reformateur (MR) continues to push against legislation aiming to protect addicts.
Belgium's gambling industry reported revenue of €1.45 billion in 2022, along with record-breaking wagers of €18.2 billion online and €6.9 billion from slot machines in the same year.
These enormous sums can be attributed to the legalisation of online gambling in 2010 and the regularisation of gambling advertising in 2021. Both steps attracted scores more to the betting table: in 2010, Belgium saw 63,000 online players a day. By 2022 this had risen to 141,000. In the same time period, 5% of the Belgian population gambled online at least once a week.
The year advertising was introduced, the number of people gambling rose from 800,000 to 2.1 million.
In light of these figures, then Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne (Open VLD) took the decision to ban gambling advertising via a royal decree in March 2022. This decision provoked widespread disapproval from the gambling lobby and media outlets profiting from advertising revenue.
Political pushback
The majority of political parties sided with the ban and other efforts to restrain the industry, due to its deleterious social effects (the suicide rate among addicts is five times higher than among the general population).
However, MR has pushed against the new rules according to several lawmakers involved in the legislative process.
"As justice minister, I had the right to take that measure on my own through a royal decree," Van Quickenborne told Humo. "But Bouchez made it a headline issue: anything that could harm the gambling sector had to be discussed at the Council of Ministers."
The MR leader eventually relented on condition that certain advertising measures be phased out gradually rather than all at once, such as logos on sports jerseys. In addition, he managed to exempt amateur clubs from the advertising ban, something that has rankled the bill's proponents.
Bouchez' links with leading lobbyists have also come into question. As a rally driver, he is sponsored by Ladbrokes, and former MR MP Damien Thiéry now lobbies for Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO), a group with a pushy reputation among politicians.
Left: Former MR MP and current BAGO lobbyist Damien Thiéry. Right: MR party leader Georges-Louis Bouchez. Credit: Belga / X.
"I was approached on all sides by BAGO," said MP Stefaan Van Hecke (Écolo), who supervised a bill which raised the minimum age to 21, prohibits companies from encouraging users to keep gambling with bonuses and consolidates the advertising ban.
Vooruit leader Melissa Depraetere says Bouchez' behaviour has been "embarrassing". She is concerned about how legislation might evolve in the next mandate, since both MR and N-VA are against stringent gambling regulation.
"Hopefully in the next government we can do more to protect players, but at the same time, MR and N-VA could reverse the advertising ban," she said.
