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Top 5 Belgian Gambling Companies Seek Quid Pro Quo From The BGC!
By Shane Addinall Oct 09, 2019 IndustryBelgium’s five biggest gambling operators offer to stop advertising on television, radio and print as a way to support the governments drive to reduce the impact of gambling on the population. But the offer is more self-serving than it appears.The Belgian market is one of the quieter yet more decisive markets when it comes to gambling legislation. Most notably Belgium was the first market to specifically label video game loot boxes as gambling and called for them to be removed from games aimed at children. This included such titles as EA’s Fifa franchise and the fan favourite first-person shooter, Overwatch.
They also put a stop to Betway’s operation for a lack of transparency a move which has seen the operator put up the following notice on its Belgian domain:
“Due to a change in regulation, we need to make some changes to the Betway software. We thank you for your custom and will let you know when Betway will be accepting bets again.”
Clearly the Belgian Gambling Commission (BGC) is not shy to take swift action where it sees a need to intervene on behalf of the public interest.
✓The Olive Branch
Recently the top five legal gambling operators in Belgium approached the BGC with a proactive solution to the reported over-saturation of gambling advertising in the market – they would willingly step back from advertising on radio, television and in print media as of 1 January 2020.
Emmanuel Mewissen, CEO of the Liège-based casino group Ardent said:
"We are aware of the excessive presence of gambling advertising in recent years, with this initiative we want to bring serenity back."
To put this in context the five members of the Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO) namely the Ardent Group, Betfirst, Golden Palace, Napoleon Games and Unibet make up more than 65% of Belgium legal gambling revenue, much of which is spent locally on advertising in these above the line channels.
This proactive action by the industry leaders would far exceed the current legal limitations of not advertising around children’s programming, not advertising during live sporting events and no gambling advertisements aired before the 8 pm watershed.
Merwissen did, however, add that a halting of online advertising would not be possible as it would place the regulated casinos and sportsbooks at a disadvantage when competing with unregulated gambling providers.
✓Measure of Self-Service
The offer is not altogether altruistic, the groups presenting the offer did have a request of their own. They have asked that the government apply the same restrictions to the National Lottery which by its nature is a game of chance yet suffers none of the regulatory restrictions that online gambling sites do.
While the government has yet to comment on the BAGO offer this aggressive move to limit the freedoms of the National Lottery committee has set the two groups on a collision course and neither side is currently willing to back down
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