GC Chair Magali Clavie warns: ‘The illegal gambling market is growing at breakneck speed’ 

The planned reform of the Belgian gambling market failed to get off the ground in 2025. Meanwhile, the threat posed by illegal gambling sites grew rapidly. The Gaming Commission had 8,528 adverts removed from Meta and blacklisted 370 new websites. 

Belgium began 2025 with ambitious plans for the gambling sector. The federal coalition agreement promised a modernisation of the Gambling Act, a reform of the Gambling Commission and a tougher stance on illegal operators. By the end of the year, however, the regulator had to acknowledge that these structural reforms had not yet been implemented. 

In its 2025 annual report, GC Chair Magali Clavie warns that the black market is becoming increasingly visible. Illegal operators are targeting Belgian players directly via social media, even using the names, logos and visual identities of licensed casinos. 

Reform was delayed 

The coalition agreement of January 2025 provided for three major changes. Gambling legislation was to be modernised, the structure of the Gambling Commission was to be reformed, and the Minister for the Economy was to become the government’s sole representative on gambling matters. 

The first concrete step did not come until 2026. The transfer of the Gaming Commission from the FPS Justice to the FPS Economy was enshrined in the Act of 17 April 2026 and came into force on 1 June 2026. As a result, 2025 remained primarily a transitional year during which the Gaming Commission had to continue operating with its existing resources and structure. 

In the meantime, however, the regulator was required to implement new rules. These included raising the minimum age to 21, a ban on combining certain online licences, and stricter restrictions on gambling advertising. An overview of these latter rules can be found in the GamblingClub dossier on the Belgian ban on gambling advertising. 

More than 8,500 illegal adverts reported to Meta 

The most significant warning in the annual report concerns the illegal online market. According to Clavie, the threat posed by the black market is “neither theoretical nor marginal”. Illegal operators are taking up an increasing amount of space, particularly on social media. 

In 2025, the GC’s monitoring team submitted no fewer than 8,528 reports to Meta. These included sponsored adverts in which illegal casinos posed as licensed Belgian operators. By using a familiar brand name or a copied logo, these sites attempt to give players the impression that they are subject to Belgian regulation. 

That distinction is important. Licensed operators are required, amongst other things, to verify players’ identities, enforce the minimum age limit and check the EPIS register. Illegal sites do not offer that legal protection. GamblingClub therefore explains in detail the difference between legal and illegal casinos. 

370 new websites blacklisted 

The number of blocked websites has also risen sharply. According to the annual report, the Gaming Commission has added 370 new websites to its blacklist since 1 January 2025. In March 2025, the regulator simplified the procedure to enable a faster response to illegal operators who regularly change their URLs or launch copies of a blocked site. 

In addition, at the end of 2025, the Gaming Commission entered into a cooperation agreement with DNS Belgium. This enables illegal gambling sites using a Belgian .be domain name to be dealt with more swiftly. If the owner fails to respond within the specified time limit, the domain may first be redirected to a warning page and ultimately deleted. 

The current names and domains are listed on the blacklist of illegal casinos in Belgium. On its own information page about illegal gambling, the Gaming Commission also warns that not only offering, but also playing on an illegal gambling site may be a criminal offence. 

Fewer illegal operators is not automatically good news 

At first glance, the figures for the regulated market appear to indicate a decline in gambling activity. Gross revenue from licensed operators fell in 2025 for the second year running, although the decline amounted to just 0.07 per cent. The total regulated market thus remained virtually stable at €1.62 billion. 

The number of new online players fell much more sharply. In 2024, legal websites still registered 193,342 new players. In 2025, this figure stood at 110,032, a decrease of over 43 per cent. The number of people who played at least once with a legal online provider fell from 602,288 to 528,706. 

Part of this decline can be attributed to the new minimum age requirement. Since 1 September 2024, people under the age of 21 have been prohibited from taking part in games of chance or betting. In previous years, between 30,000 and 42,000 new players came from the 18 to 20 age group each year. 

However, the GCdoes not wish to automatically regard this decline as positive news. Fewer registered players may mean that fewer people are gambling, but it may also mean that part of the market is shifting to unlicensed websites. Anyone wishing to gamble legally should therefore check the list of all licensed Belgian online casinos. 

Over a quarter of young people use illegal gambling sites 

A survey by the Gaming Commission of a thousand young people aged between 18 and 30 reinforces these concerns. Of those surveyed, 28 per cent said they had used an illegal gambling website. Within the 18 to 20 age group, 39 per cent said they had still been gambling, even though participation has been banned for this age group since September 2024. 

The figures suggest that stricter rules in the legal market do not automatically prevent young people from continuing to gamble. When the regulated offering becomes less accessible or less attractive, some players may turn to websites that do not carry out age verification and are not linked to the Belgian exclusion register. 

This makes the EPIS system a key factor distinguishing the two markets. In 2025, EPIS blocked 715,373 visits by excluded individuals. The majority of these – 690,074 attempts – took place online. Further information on voluntary exclusion and access bans can be found in the dossier on the Belgian EPIS list. 

Staff shortages limit the regulator’s effectiveness 

The Gaming Commission states that it can only strengthen its role as a regulator if its workforce and technical capabilities are also expanded. At the end of 2025, 42 people were employed at the secretariat, whilst the staffing plan provides for 57 posts. Furthermore, seven staff members were on long-term leave. 

The shortfall is particularly evident in the area of inspections. In 2025, the administrative inspection unit lost three staff members and gained only one. Nevertheless, the unit carried out 9,842 inspections during the year, 9,500 of which were conducted remotely. In addition to illegal advertisements, the team investigated, amongst other things, advertising breaches, fraudulent newspaper sales and inadequate EPIS checks. 

Clavie is therefore calling not only for a more modern Gambling Act, but also for a regulator that has sufficient staff, data and technical tools at its disposal. Without such reinforcement, the legal sector risks having to comply with an ever-increasing number of obligations, whilst foreign illegal operators continue to target Belgian players virtually unhindered via social media. 

Channelling players becomes the key challenge 

The central question for the forthcoming reform is how Belgium can keep players within the licensed market. Strict rules must protect vulnerable consumers, but, according to the GC, they must not result in players seeking refuge in a black market without supervision, limits or self-exclusion options. 

“Channelling players towards the legal market must remain the basis of any effective gambling policy,” writes Clavie. To achieve this, she argues, a legal offering is needed that is safe and responsible, whilst also remaining sufficiently competitive against the hundreds of illegal websites attempting to reach Belgian players. 

The annual report thus makes it clear that the reform of the Gaming Commission is not merely an administrative transfer from the Ministry of Justice to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The regulator must be prepared for a digital market in which illegal websites, social media, counterfeit brands and rapidly changing domain names are putting ever-greater pressure on traditional enforcement methods.