European Gaming Lawyer magazine Autumn 2015 | Page 14

New opportunities in Belgium?
Evolutions and updates on the
belgian gambling landscape
By Tatjana Klaeser, Attorney-at-Law

B

Tatjana Klaeser

elgian gambling and betting services,
whether land-based or online, are
regulated under the Law of 7 May
1999, generally referred to as the
Belgian Gaming Act (“BGA”). Under
Article 4 of the BGA, the offer of gambling or betting
services is subject to the prior granting of a license from
the Belgian Gaming Commission. These licenses can be
granted for a large array of games but the number of
available licenses for each type of gaming service is
limited (the “numerus clausus principle”) by secondary
legislation (Royal Decrees).
Since the reform of the BGA by the Law of 10 January
2010, the holder of a land-based casino, gaming arcade
or betting license can also apply for a “supplementary”
license allowing the offer online of games equivalent to
those already offered offline (the “offline requirement”).
As a result of both the numerus clausus principle and
the offline requirement, the Belgian gambling market is
somewhat of a “Members’ only club” restricted to local
land-based operators which have often been there for
years. This is one of the reasons why Belgium’s online
gambling bill has been much criticised by the European