Online gambling faces more restrictions in Belgium

A Belgian court ruled that the local regulator can’t issue a single license to online operators that offer more than one product from the same URL.

Belgium.- The Constitutional Court of Belgium ruled that the Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC) has no authority to issue a single gambling license to online operators that offer more than one product through the same URL.

The case started after Rocoluc NV, a land-based operator, challenged the practices of the BGC as it believed that online operators should receive the same treatment as land-based operators, which can’t offer different types of gambling in the same venue. Despite the legal case, the company offers online casino games through the Casinobelgium.be domain.

Whilst the BGC still has to comment on the ruling, it seems like an appeal is on the way. If it fails, Belgian-licensed operators could be forced to end operations or reapply for licenses for each of the online products they want to offer.

The local industry is one of the most restrictive on a worldwide level, and it is getting worse for online operators. Just last month, the Belgian Council of Ministers favoured Minister of Justice Koen Geens proposal to set restrictions on gambling promotion, mainly on broadcast media. Since the ruling, 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 introduced 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.