The president of the Gaming Commission, Magali Clavie, has just issued a warning that sounds like a national emergency signal. Behind a sector where hundreds of thousands of people gamble every day lies a worrying reality, marked by an explosion in online gambling, a proliferation of illegal operators, and a glaring lack of resources.
“We can’t go on like this!”
When Magali Clavie describes the current situation, her tone leaves no room for doubt.
“We can’t go on like this!” she says, referring to outdated legislation and an obvious lack of staff.
The Commission currently has 32 full-time equivalents, while the latest federal plan provided for 57 positions. The gap is huge. And when compared to other European countries, the gap becomes staggering: the Netherlands has a team of 200 people.
Clavie insists that this structural weakness directly endangers players. The lack of staff, combined with an ever-increasing number of tasks, is forcing the regulator to operate on a priority basis rather than covering the entire sector.
Increasingly rare checks: a widening gap
The proliferation of gaming rooms and casinos, but above all the rapid growth of online gambling, have made the task almost impossible.
“We can no longer monitor all the bookshops where there are betting terminals. We can no longer be in all the casinos…”
The Commission must now rely on targeted action plans, limiting its interventions to areas deemed to be priorities. In this context, two areas remain untouchable:
- Compliance with the EPIS list, which includes banned players.
- Verification of the minimum age requirement.
But everything else cannot be covered properly. The result is a gap that illegal operators are rushing to fill with disconcerting ease.
The invisible scourge of illegal sites
In the world of online gambling, illegal offerings are growing at an alarming rate. The dangers are manifold. First, there is no guarantee: promised winnings are not always paid out, and aggrieved players have no recourse. Second, there is a total lack of protection. A player who is in debt or on the banned list can be accepted without anyone questioning their financial or psychological state. Illegal operators do not check the age, identity, or vulnerability of their customers. This lack of control also encourages money laundering, as the usual checks are non-existent.
For Clavie, part of the solution lies in reducing the visibility of these illegal sites. She puts it bluntly: “These illegal sites do a lot of sponsored advertising on social media: it’s prohibited, but it raises their profile and gives them an appearance of legitimacy.”
This strategy is formidable. Players, who are often novice or uninformed, may believe they are dealing with an authorized site. And since legal operators comply with the ban on sponsored advertising, they become almost invisible in comparison.
Fortunately, the Commission has a direct channel with Meta, allowing it to have this sponsorship removed. The figures reveal the scale of the phenomenon: 7,000 reports have been sent this year just to stop these illegal advertisements.
But the fight is like a game of cat and mouse. Once one site is reported, another immediately appears. The famous blacklist, already around 700 platforms long, continues to grow.
However, alongside this illegal offering, there is a solid and strictly regulated legal market. Belgium has nearly 80 operators with official licenses, subject to regular checks or based on complaints filed by players.
The figures show the scale of the sector:
- 600,000 active online player accounts,
- 150,000 daily online players,
- 12,000 physical players (casinos and gaming rooms),
- €1.7 billion in annual revenue.
The Arizona government faces up to its responsibilities
However, the prospect of increasing staff numbers seems uncertain, given that the Arizona government is pursuing a strict policy of austerity.
The Commission is financed by a fund contributed to by the operators themselves. The financial resources therefore exist. The real obstacle lies elsewhere: dependence on the FPS Justice for recruitment, a service that is already saturated.
However, a major change is in the works. Starting next January, the Commission will come under the authority of the FPS Economy. Clavie hopes this transfer will be decisive.
Magali Clavie’s assessment is clear: without reinforcement, the system will continue to crack. The proliferation of operators, the explosion of online gambling, the fragility of the most vulnerable, the agility of illegal sites, and new circumvention technologies are likely to permanently exceed the regulator’s capabilities.