Belgian minister aims to ban all gambling ads by the end of 2022
Vincent Van Quickenborne labels gambling “the new smoking” and says more than 100,000 people display problematic behaviour
Belgium’s federal justice minister, Vincent Van Quickenborne, has laid out plans in this weekend’s Royal Decree to ban all gambling advertising in the country by the end of the year.
Under the proposals, gambling companies and platforms will not be able to advertise on radio, TV, social media, posters, newspapers or via personalised emails or texts.
In a press release, Van Quickenborne said: “Gambling is the new smoking; the gambling industry is making more and more profit in our country, all thanks to people with a gambling addiction.
“Gambling advertising is fired at us from all sides every day and encourages these addictions, including among young people. More than 100,000 gamblers show problematic gambling behaviour, and a third of them already have a serious addiction.
“From now on, the philosophy is that only people who want to gamble and actively look for information about games of chance will be confronted with gambling advertising in the future,” Van Quickenborne added.
The most recent gambling figures for the region were in 2020, published by the regulator. GGR for the region totalled €338.6m (£290.3m), of which £205.1m came from online.
The Belgian government came under fire recently as a new piece of potential legislation has raised concerns at the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA).
That new legislation would make players create a separate account for each product they wanted to use. The concern was that it would raise several player protection issues.
The Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO) has taken the same stance as the EGBA on this issue and does not want to see the plans become law.