Belgium Market Report - Euroslot - the independent voice of the amusement and gambling industry

Belgium Market Report

Published: 22 October, 2010

The new Belgian gaming Act has been enacted. It has a larger scope than previously and extends the licence system to betting, online gaming and games offered through media.

Besides an extension of the responsibilities of the Gaming Board, the integration of betting and online gambling in the existing legislation forms the major part of the amendments. Some of the changes are also important to our industry, such as the obligation to actively operated a licence, the indexation of the average hourly loss, the competence of the Gaming Board to impose fines.

There are also some additional measures for the protection of the players, like the penalization of participation in illegal games and the possibility given to an interested person to ban someone having a gambling problem, from entering a gaming establishment.

The practical implementation of the Act is still unclear. It should be finalized in the course of this year and not later than 1 January 2011. Not less than 60 royal decrees have to be finalized to bring the new Act into force.

The royal decrees regarding betting are ready. They have been notified to the European Commission, end of the standstill period being 09/08/2010. They should enter into force 1 September 2010.

The trade association, the UBA is particularly interested to see how the Government will regulate the online gambling business. The implementing orders are expected to be finalized by the end of the year. There is still a lot of preliminary work to do and the technical stipulations regarding supervision of the Internet are still to be prepared.

“Considering the recent collapse of the Belgian government, the situation is very uncertain. Elections will be held in June and we hope that the new government will respect the priorities set out by the outgoing government,” says a UBA spokesman.

The smoking ban has come into force in Belgium. A transitional period until 1 January 2014 has been granted to pubs which only sell pre-packed food (such as chocolates, crisps,…). The government can decide to end this transitional period as from 1 January 2012. Smoking rooms are allowed but it is not allowed to operate machines in these rooms. The smoking ban does not apply to casinos.

The National Lottery has launched its online platform. All existing drawing games are offered online at www.e-lotto.be. The site is only open to Belgian adults.

Taxes

No changes in the Flemish and the Brussels region.

Cat. A € 3.750,00

Cat. B € 1.290,00

Cat. C € 350,00

Cat. D € 250,00

Cat. E € 150,00

The Walloon government has increased the tax rates as follows.

2009 2010

Cat. A € 3.750,00 € 1.700,00

Cat. B € 1.290,00 € 1.100,00

Cat. C € 350,00 € 350,00