Belgian gambling regulator probes Eden Hazard’s Stake ads
An investigation will assess whether content featuring Eden Hazard targets Belgian gamblers.
Belgium.- The Belgian Gambling Commission has opened an inquiry into promotional activity tied to Eden Hazard’s ambassadorial arrangement with online betting firm Stake. The former Chelsea star’s posts on social media, where he has roughly 27 million followers, are being examined to determine whether they breach national rules by targeting Belgian audiences.
A ban on gambling ads in Belgium covering broadcast, print and digital channels was introduced in July 2023. This will be expanded to a full ban on all gambling ads, including sponsorship deals from January 2028.
However Stake doesn’t have a Belgian gambling licence and is included in the regulator’s list of unauthorised operators. The Gaming Commission said that if Hazard’s promotional content is found to have violated Belgian law, sanctions could include mandatory takedowns and administrative penalties.
Spokesperson Stefaan Savenberg said: “We’re going to investigate to what extent the advertising is targeted at people in Belgium, because that is obviously prohibited. Mr. Hazard has many Belgian followers on his Instagram page. Therefore, an investigation will have to determine whether the intention is to encourage Belgians to play on that illegal website.”
In September 2024, the minimum legal age for gambling in Belgium was raised to 21 across most verticals, bringing online gambling, along with sports betting, arcades, and bingo in line with the existing age restriction for casinos.
However, research from the Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO) has suggested that nearly half of men aged 18 to 21 had gambled on illegal sites, often discovering them through social media or sports sponsorship.
The operator in question has faced controversy over its advertising in other jurisdictions. A year ago, Stake withdrew from the UK after the British Gambling Commission placed its licence under supervision due to a promotional stunt featuring a porn star outside Nottingham Trent University.
In that case, the British regulator said it was concerned that the operator was using sex to promote gambling after a video showed an actress saying that she planned to have sex with 180 students. Stake did not post the video, but its logo appeared on the screen. Stake’s UK licence was held under a white-label deal with TGP Europe.
