Belgium limits gambling advertising

Belgian Council of Ministers has approved Minister of Justice’s plan to restrict gambling advertising on broadcast media.

Belgium.- Gambling advertising has always been heavily criticised by the industry’s detractors as it is considered as a probable cause of irresponsible gambling. That’s why many countries attempt to restrict its exposure, and Belgium has managed to do just as much.

The Belgian Council of Ministers has favoured Minister of Justice Koen Geens proposal to set restrictions on gambling promotion, mainly on broadcast media. From now on, industry’s ads are banned from being broadcasted before 8pm, from any live sporting events and even bars any gambling promotion messages from sports equipment and kits.

The proposal was promoted by Minister Geens with support of the Belgium Gaming Commission and introduces a change in the minimum age for online gambling, which is now 21 and not 18 as it used to be. Also, no gambling advertising content will be authorised to be shown less than 15 minutes before and after children’s shows or content aimed at them.

New rules are set to make a major impact in football clubs’ finances, since they are now kept from making sponsorship deals with betting firms. Furthermore, any operator who breaches the new rules will be severely fined.