Inside the Bet: When students challenge the betting industry
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18 May 2026 •
Reading time: 2 minutes
On 8 May in Wellen, students from UCLL organised the ‘Inside the Bet’ event to raise awareness among other young people about the risks associated with sports betting and online gambling.
A student event born of a worrying observation
Five Belgian students organised the Inside the Bet event, held on Friday 8 May in Wellen. The initiative did not come from a public institution or a major national campaign, but from a group of students at UCLL University College, located in Diepenbeek. Julie Weeghmans, Roos Noben, Matteo Michetti, Jasper Fonderie and Noah Degrie, who are studying marketing and creative media management, chose to dedicate their project to a sensitive topic: gambling problems among young people.
Their aim was to draw their peers’ attention to the mechanics of gambling, the risks of sports betting and the possible consequences of problematic behaviour. Rather than simply delivering a top-down lecture, the students devised an evening combining information, personal accounts and activities.
Arne Nilis’s personal account at the heart of the event
One of the highlights of the evening was the talk given by Arne Nilis, a former professional footballer. For several years now, he has been speaking openly about his past, which was marked by a gambling addiction – a dependency that began during his youth in the world of football. During his talk, Arne Nilis recounted his personal experience, including his time in a rehabilitation clinic in South Africa.
The former footballer is the founder of Beyond The Bet, an organisation specialising in supporting people with gambling addictions and their families and friends.
The organisation offers workshops, talks and prevention programmes for schools, sports clubs and businesses. The decision to invite him to Inside the Bet was therefore in line with the students’ aim: to link a message of prevention to a real-life experience, as well as to a professional support approach.
Activities to understand the mechanics of gambling
The evening was not limited to the talk. The organisers also offered several gambling-related activities. The aim was to demonstrate how certain mechanisms work and what consequences may be associated with them.
By placing participants in simulated or supervised gaming scenarios, the students sought to make the subject more tangible. It was not simply a matter of stating that gaming can become dangerous, but of helping people understand how this dynamic can develop.
Inside the Bet tells the story of a group of students who chose not to treat gambling as mere harmless entertainment. By giving a voice to Arne Nilis, engaging the audience and organising an evening focused on prevention, they sought to highlight a risk that is sometimes downplayed.