Isn’t laughter the best medicine? In February, Belgians throughout the country ‘celebrated’ 250 days without a government, just overtaking Iraq’s 249 days and the Ivory Coast’s 205 days. As of today, Belgian’s headless state has been operating for over 365 days – a national embarrassment and that is why Belgians are laughing at themselves.
the RiGht medicine the new law
Politicians and lawyers continues to squabble over Belgium’s online regulation, while creating ever increasiing hurdles and and more robust barriers to entry for external operators seeking to enter the market.
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“The Champion – Belgium has three regions, three languages, jerk politicians, fries, beer, 10 million sheep, and is already the European record holder. Belgium has lots of potential. We did it!” says the ironic caption underneath the countdown clock, on a website set up by disgruntled citizens.
Despite the political stalemate and initial delays, Belgium’s online gambling reforms are slowly going ahead. In December 2009, the Lower Chamber of the Belgian Parliament passed the New Belgian Gaming Legislation which amended the 1999 Gaming Act, the main gaming legislation. Secondary legislation, by means of royal decrees, still has to be adopted by the caretaker government to iron out some details.
The catalyst for gambling reform is based on a
BelGian citiZens aGed 21 and oveR.
pragmatic ‘channelling approach’ where policymakers recognise the consumer’s obvious need to gamble and in turn offers them a limited number of legal games. The major aims of the reform are to protect the player from gambling addiction, prevent underage gambling and to curb the proliferation of illegal gambling by offering a “limited and controlled supply”. Underage gambling in particular is a widespread problem.
A recent report indicated that 25 per cent of Belgians between those ages had gambled for real money in the previous year (mainly
poker). It went on to argue that the regulatory framework needed to be updated to reflect the e-commerce reality of the Internet where games were played in complete isolation allowing for impulse gambling. The report also emphasised that the risk of fraud is greater, as online gaming sites can be developed very quickly and “unscrupulous operators can appear and disappear in a matter of minutes”.
The new law establishes a local licensing regulatory regime, where operators may offer a variety of games of chance to Belgian citizens aged 21 and over. These online games of chance include casino gaming, poker (inclusive of cash games), sports betting (fixed odds and totalisator) and horse race betting (totalisator and pari-mutuel).
Lotteries remain under the exclusive control of the local monopoly, La Loterie Nationale. Although the amendments to the Gaming Act came into effect early this year, it still requires the approval of secondary legislation by the current caretaker government. New licences are expected to be issued in September.
Many elements of the new regulatory system, operators argue, may be in direct contravention
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