Gambling affiliates attempt to manipulate Google again: Belgium needs to remain vigilant 

Illegal gambling affiliates are attempting to drive as many visitors as possible to unlicensed casinos through Google in a short period of time. This is what the Keurmerk Verantwoorde Affiliates (KVA), a Dutch responsible affiliate certification body, has observed during its inspections and reported on LinkedIn. The warning concerns the Netherlands, but it also highlights a challenge for Belgium: how can the Belgian Gaming Commission monitor websites that appear quickly, redirect visitors and potentially return under different domain names? 

KVA identifies signs of a ‘hit-and-run’ approach 

According to the warning shared by KVA, the speed and recent activity of the websites identified were particularly striking. During inspections, search suggestions appeared that directed users towards search results containing numerous casino comparisons and reviews. Google indicated that many of these pages had been updated only a few hours earlier. 

The websites then redirected visitors to online gambling operators without a Dutch licence that were accessible to Dutch consumers. 

KVA suspects a short-term strategy: attracting search traffic quickly, continuing to operate for as long as the website remains visible and accessible, and potentially switching to another domain as soon as a regulator or Google intervenes. 

However, an important distinction must be made. This is a warning issued by KVA and a possible explanation for the observed pattern. The report does not establish how many players were reached or prove that every website involved belongs to the same network. 

A search suggestion is not a recommendation or a licence 

According to KVA, attempts to influence search suggestions are not a new phenomenon. The organisation had previously warned that specific domain names appeared in suggestions for general casino-related searches, alongside references to gambling services operating outside the Dutch Cruks exclusion system. 

For users, such suggestions may appear trustworthy. After all, they appear within a search engine they use every day. However, this visibility says nothing about whether the website mentioned is licensed or reliable. 

It is also important to distinguish between search suggestions, organic search results and paid advertisements. These are different features of Google. A prominent search suggestion does not, by itself, prove that someone has paid for advertising. 

Gambling Club previously reported on the visibility of illegal gambling affiliates in Google. The latest warning primarily adds suspicions of websites and domains being published and replaced in rapid succession. 

Why this warning is also relevant to Belgium 

KVA’s specific findings concern Dutch consumers. It has therefore not been established that the same campaign is reaching Belgian players. Separate investigations would be required to determine that. 

However, the potential risk is familiar. A Belgian user may discover an operator without the required Belgian licence through a comparison website or casino review. The intermediary website does not need to offer gambling services itself to play a role in redirecting visitors. 

For Belgian players, authorisation from the Belgian Gaming Commission is what matters. A foreign licence or a high position in Google’s search results does not replace the required Belgian licence. 

Keurmerk Verantwoorde Affiliates must also be understood in its proper context. It is a private certification scheme with rules for participating affiliates, focused on the Dutch market. It is not a Belgian regulator and does not issue Belgian gambling licences. 

The Gaming Commission must also examine the route leading to casinos 

The Belgian Gaming Commission publishes a blacklist of websites it considers illegal. Gambling Club recently reported on new additions to the Belgian blacklist in October 2026. 

This list helps identify the domains concerned. However, a website’s absence from the blacklist does not automatically mean it is licensed. Checking its licence remains essential. 

The KVA warning highlights why the route leading users to a casino also deserves attention. Between a search query and registration, users may encounter several pages, comparison websites and redirects. 

If these intermediary pages change domains rapidly, an inspection of a single address may only provide a snapshot of the situation. For regulatory oversight, it may therefore be useful to record which operators these websites promote and what connections can be identified between successive websites. 

This is an inference based on the practices described, not confirmation that the Belgian Gaming Commission is investigating this specific campaign. 

Belgium also has a legal procedure for tackling illegal gambling services 

Belgium’s approach is not limited to the Gaming Commission’s blacklist. The Belgian FPS Economy describes a separate judicial procedure that has also applied to the illegal operation of online gambling services since June 1, 2024. 

Provisional measures can be requested through the president of the Brussels Enterprise Court. A specialised department of the Economic Inspectorate may then be authorised to determine how these measures are implemented, in cooperation with internet service providers. 

The government specifically mentions website blocking and the identification of mirror websites among the available measures. 

The FPS Economy’s explanation of measures against illegal online services therefore shows that copies and replacement websites are also considered within the enforcement framework. This judicial procedure must be distinguished from decisions taken independently by the Gaming Commission. 

Not every suspicious gambling page has the same origin 

Gambling Club previously described how hacked websites are used to promote illegal casinos. In these cases, gambling-related pages appeared on websites whose owners may not have known that their platforms were being misused. 

This differs from a deliberately created affiliate website. Both can direct visitors towards unlicensed gambling services, but the owner of the visible domain is not necessarily the party organising the gambling promotion. 

The date displayed by Google should also be interpreted cautiously. An indication that a page was recently updated does not establish when the domain was registered, who published the content or how many visitors the page received. 

Belgian affiliate regulations remain a separate issue 

The warning also relates to the debate surrounding Belgium’s affiliate policies and the visibility of legal gambling services. Gambling Club previously discussed the tensions between advertising restrictions, consumer protection and the presence of illegal competitors. 

However, the Dutch findings do not prove that stricter Belgian advertising regulations cause these practices. Nor do they demonstrate that allowing more advertising would solve the problem. 

A Belgian assessment requires concrete data: which search suggestions appear to users in Belgium, which websites do they discover as a result, and which casinos do those websites promote? 

Particularly when domains change rapidly, repeated inspections are necessary to obtain a broader picture than a single search result captured at one moment in time.