🇧🇪For operators · Tax, marketing & compliance
Operating in Belgium: 11% tax, ad limits
Online gambling is legal and tightly regulated for players aged 21 and over. Every online licence is a supplement to a land-based licence, bonuses are banned, a €200 weekly deposit limit applies, and the Gaming Commission has unlicensed sites blocked.
Operator tax11%UpfrontFrom €87,698Licence termTied to baseDecision time6 monthsAnnual GGR1.12B USDOnline licensees77
Product by product
There is no stand-alone online licence: you need A+, B+ or F1+, granted only to a holder of the matching land-based licence A, B or F1.| Product | Status | Licensed by | Tax | Key restriction | Advertising |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Online casino games | Limited | Gaming Commission, licence A+ (needs base licence A) | 11% of gross margin (regional) | All 9 A licences are granted and none is open, so a new entrant cannot get an A base licence | Banned except the forms the 2023 decree lists; no welcome bonuses or free spins |
| Online arcade-type games | Limited | Gaming Commission, licence B+ (needs base licence B) | 11% of gross margin (regional) | Base licence B is capped at 180 and offered only when one becomes vacant | Banned except the forms the 2023 decree lists |
| Online sports betting | Limited | Gaming Commission, licence F1+ (needs base licence F1) | 11% of the gross margin on online bets (regional) | All 30 F1 licences are granted; a new one is offered only when one becomes vacant. Horse-race bets also need F1P | Sponsorship only on players' clothing, shirt front excluded; 75 cm2 until 31 December 2027, then 50 cm2 |
| National Lottery | Limited | Outside the Gaming Commission's licences | Governed by the Law of 19 April 2002 | The National Lottery's public lotteries sit outside the Gambling Act, so the Commission does not licence them; the Constitutional Court gave the legislator until 31 December 2026 to end its online games' exemptions | Not bound by the private operators' advertising ban until the legislator acts (deadline 31 December 2026) |
Coming up31 Dec 2026Constitutional Court deadline
What must Belgium's legislator fix by 31 December 2026?
The Constitutional Court (judgment 165/2025 of 11 December 2025) annulled the ban on cumulating online licences in Art. 27 second paragraph of the Gambling Act, but keeps its effects until a new law is passed, and no later than 31 December 2026. By then the legislator must also end the unequal treatment of private operators and the National Lottery's online games (age 21, bonus ban, advertising ban). Judgment 45/2026 of 16 April 2026 sets the same date for the prior check and age limit, and gives until 31 December 2027 for the annulled EPIS check. As of 23 October 2026 no bill text for the wider reform is published.
Constitutional Court 165/2025 ↗Constitutional Court 45/2026 ↗
Regulator and player protection in Belgium
Regulator
Application authority and enforcement body
Self-exclusion scheme
Belgian Excluded Persons Information System (EPIS)
How players exclude themselves; what it covers is in the player guide
Mandatory RG controls
deposit limits
Deposit limits or reality checks the law requires operators to offer
Which casinos & betting sites are licensed in Belgium?
See the full official list of licensed operators and their authorised domains.
Heads-up for operators
4 items · last change 23 Oct 2026
As of 23 October 2026, after Constitutional Court judgments 165/2025 and 45/2026, the legislator must by 31 December 2026 end the unequal treatment of private operators and the National Lottery’s online games (age 21, bonus ban, advertising ban, prior EPIS check) and replace the annulled ban on cumulating online licences (Art. 27, whose effects run until then); the EPIS check for class C cafés has until 31 December 2027. Two opposition bills (DOC 56 0096 and DOC 56 0230, tabled in 2024) are before the Chamber.
Sponsorship of professional sport ends
From 1 January 2028 sponsorship is limited to non-professional sports associations, at most 50 cm2 on players’ clothing.
Source: 1
EPIS check for cafés
The effects of the annulled EPIS provisions run until 31 December 2027 at the latest (Constitutional Court judgment 45/2026).
Source: 2
Show all 4Show fewer
National Lottery and licence cumulation rules
Deadline set by the Constitutional Court to end the unequal treatment of private operators and the National Lottery’s online games and to replace the annulled ban on cumulating online licences.
Source: 3
Not yet in force: drafts, laws adopted without a start date, and sections of the law still to be commenced. An item moves to the timeline below on the day it takes effect.
Getting licensed in Belgium
The licence, its cost and the steps are in the licence guide
7 licence types: Licence A - Land-based Casino; Licence A+ - Online Casino; Licence B - Gaming Arcade; and others. Year-1 budget From €87,698. Fees, requirements, documents, certification and the step-by-step route are set out there.Read the licence guide
Gambling tax: 11% of GGR
Detail
Regional gaming and betting tax, collected by Vlabel (Flanders), SPW Fiscalité (Wallonia) and FPS Finance (Brussels-Capital). Online games and bets (A+, B+, F1+): 11% of the gross margin in each Region, owed to the Region where the server is established or operated. Land-based bets on horse races, dog races and sport: 15% of the margin in all three Regions.
- Land-based casino games
- bands, for example 33% up to €865,000 and 44% above in Flanders.
- Flanders takes a monthly return by the fifth working day of the next month.
Which foreign licences Belgium accepts
Belgium recognises none of these 8 foreign licences.
BlockedMalta (MGA) · United Kingdom (UKGC) · Curaçao (CGB) · Alderney (AGCC) · Kahnawake (KGC) · Anjouan · Isle of Man (GSC) · Gibraltar (GRA)
Not recognised: offering games of chance in Belgium needs a Gaming Commission licence (Gambling Act Art. 4 § 1), so a site holding only this licence is unlicensed in Belgium and may be put on the Commission’s list of blocked sites.
Bonus rules: welcome bonuses banned
Inducement ads: Banned
Belgium bans bonuses and promotions outright: since 1 September 2024 Art. 60 of the Gambling Act bans free play, play credit and any benefit offered to influence play or to recruit or retain players. Advertising is banned except in the forms the Royal Decree of 27 February 2023 lists.
What the player can claim
- Welcome bonus
- Banned
- VIP schemes
- Banned
- Loyalty schemes
- Banned
- Cashback
- Banned
Art. 60 covers every product and every form of benefit; the Commission allows only rewards written into the game rules that apply equally to every player and every play. VIP perks are covered too (the gifts exception is for land-based casinos only).
What the operator can advertise
- Channels off-limits
- television and radio, except sponsorship messages around international sports events and incidental sports reporting
- third-party websites and display advertising
- paid social-media advertising
- e-mail, SMS, push and other direct marketing
- influencers and any depiction of natural persons
- outdoor and public spaces (land-based facades excepted)
- the place where sport is played (from 1 January 2025)
- sponsorship of professional sports associations (from 1 January 2028)
- Messages ads may not give
- Free
- Risk-free
- Refund of the stake if you lose
- Mandatory disclaimer
Gokken kan verslavend zijn. Stop op tijd! Meer info op www.stopoptijd.be, with the minimum age.
- Placement rule
- In every advertisement, at least 4% of the height of the advertising space and at least 7 points. The Commission does not require it in sports sponsorship or brand-name-only advertising.
- Penalties
From 1 September 2026, breaches of the advertising ban and of Art. 60 carry a fine of at most EUR 576,000 (Art. 64); the Commission’s administrative fine has the same range plus surcharges. Penalties double for repeat offences within five years or where the victim is under 21.
The Commission can warn, suspend or withdraw a licence (Art. 15/2).
Administrative fines imposed: EUR 4,325,700 in 2024 (EUR 30,500 collected) and EUR 81,100 in 2025, from 20 fines; the annual report does not break them down by offence.
Advertising: limited
Belgium bans gambling advertising except in the forms the Royal Decree of 27 February 2023 lists, and only licence holders may use them. Online, that means paid search results with the brand name or logo, the operator’s own website and its own social-media accounts. Bonuses cannot be advertised because they cannot be offered (Art. 60).
| Channel | Status | Vertical & Platform Split (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Google Search Ads | Restricted | Permitted: a paid search result showing the licence holder’s brand name or logo after gambling-related search terms (Art. 10). The Commission’s page also allows affiliate websites to advertise licensed sites on the conditions of Art. 10.15 |
| App Store Publishing | Restricted | No rule addresses publishing a licensed operator’s app; promotion in app stores is not a permitted form of advertising (Art. 2).1 |
| Google/Apple App Store Ads | Banned | Not a permitted form (Art. 2): paid app-store promotion is not allowed.1 |
| Meta (FB/IG) | Restricted | Only on the licence holder’s own accounts, for its own products, with interaction disabled, no call to action, no payment to a third party and moving images of at most 5 seconds (Art. 12). Paid (sponsored) social-media advertising is not allowed.15 |
| TV & Radio | Restricted | Not a channel in itself: only incidental advertising in sports reporting, product placement in programmes recorded abroad and not aimed at Belgium, and sponsorship messages with the brand name or logo from 15 minutes before to 15 minutes after the live broadcast of international and European sports events (Arts 5, 6, 9).1 |
| Sponsorships | Restricted | Brand name or logo on players’ clothing only, never on the front, players under 21 excluded: at most 75 cm2 until 31 December 2027 and 50 cm2 from 1 January 2028, when sponsorship of professional associations ends. No advertising where the sport is played since 1 January 2025.19 |
| Digital OOH | Banned | Outdoor advertising is not a permitted form; the only outdoor form is the brand name or logo on the facade of a land-based gaming establishment (Art. 7).15 |
Channel rules for Belgium reflect each platform's published policy and the sources numbered in each row (listed under Methodology & sources). Verify with the local regulator and your ad-platform account manager before launching.
Enforcement cases in Belgium: 5 recent
Material regulator actions, court rulings, and high-profile fines from 2016–2026 against operators serving Belgium. Each entry includes the technical failure and a one-line read-across for other operators in the market.
- September 2026
All operators
LicensingPenalties raisedFrom 1 September 2026 operating without a licence carries a fine of at most €960,000 and advertising or knowingly playing on an unlicensed site at most €576,000 (Law of 30 March 2026).
Read-across: The maxima are eight times the old ones; the Commission’s administrative fines follow the criminal maxima.
- December 2025
Unlicensed .be domains
Grey-MarketDomain suspensionUnder its agreement with DNS Belgium of 15 December 2025 the Commission can have a .be domain that breaches the Act suspended and redirected to its stop page; the first 4 were suspended in December 2025.
Read-across: Blocking now reaches the domain itself, not only internet providers.
- December 2025
National Lottery and private operators
LicensingCourt rulingConstitutional Court judgment 165/2025 found the National Lottery’s online games exempt from rules that bind private operators and gave the legislator until 31 December 2026 to end the unequal treatment.
Read-across: The rules on age, bonuses and advertising, and the cumulation of online licences, must be rewritten by the end of 2026.
- 2025
Licensees and unlicensed sites
Other32 warnings, 22 suspensions, 12 withdrawals, 20 finesThe Commission’s sanction cases in 2025, with administrative fines of €81,100 in all; it pursued illegal sites by other means because fines on foreign operators are hard to collect.
Read-across: Licence suspension and withdrawal are used; 370 websites were added to the block list since 1 January 2025.
- July 2023
All licensed operators
AdvertisingAdvertising banThe Royal Decree of 27 February 2023 (in force 1 July 2023) bans gambling advertising except in the forms it lists, open only to licence holders.
Read-across: Online marketing is limited to paid search with the brand, the operator’s own site and its own social accounts.
Market size: 1.12B USD (2025)
Gross gaming revenue in Belgium is approximately 1.12 billion USD annually. The most popular form of gambling is Casino. Online gambling represents 57.1% of total GGR. A culturally distinctive product in this market is Online arcade-type games (licence B+), dice games among them: 48 B+ licences on 23 October 2026, more than the A+ (9) and F1+ (24) licences together..
Market breakdown by vertical
- Land-based0.1904B USD17.0%
- Sports betting0.3248B USD29.0%
- Casino0.392B USD35.0%
- Lottery0.2128B USD19.0%
Source: EGBA Key Figures Market Report. Splits: online-casino 35.0%, sports 29.0%, land-based 17.0%, lottery 19.0%.
GGR figure10
Licensed operators: 76
As of 23 Oct 2026, approximately 76 operators hold an active licence in Belgium. Size your entry against this base before committing capital. Check them yourself on the official Belgian Gaming Commission register, which lists each licensee and its authorised domains.
Notable licensed operators
starcasino.be (SA/NV CHAUDFONTAINE LOISIRS, A+)
betanocasino.be and betanosports.be (SA/NV CASINOS AUSTRIA INTERNATIONAL BELGIUM, A+ and F1+)
unibetsports.be (ETRANGERE/BUITENLAND UNIBET BELGIUM LTD, F1+)
ladbrokes.be (SA/NV Derby, F1+)
Traps operators hit in Belgium
Specific operational risks that have caught new entrants in this market. Each item is country-specific. Generic gambling-ops issues (KYC, RG tools) are not included unless they have a local twist.
Online licences only for base-licence holders
An online licence (A+, B+ or F1+) is granted only to a holder of the matching land-based licence (A, B or F1). All 9 A and all 30 F1 licences are granted, B and F1 licences are offered only when one becomes vacant, and licences cannot be transferred (Gambling Act Art. 26).
No bonuses, free bets or free spins
Since 1 September 2024 Art. 60 bans free play, play credit and any benefit offered to influence play or to recruit or retain players. The Commission allows only rewards written into the game rules that apply equally to every player and every play.
Advertising only in the listed forms
Online, an operator may use paid search results with its brand, its own website and its own social-media accounts, with no interaction and no payment to a third party. Sponsorship is limited to players’ clothing, and sponsorship of professional associations ends on 1 January 2028.
Servers in Belgium
The servers holding the data and the website management must be in a permanent establishment on Belgian territory. No rule addresses cloud hosting as such; whether a cloud deployment meets that wording is a question for the Gaming Commission.
Timeline: rules in force
- September 2026
Penalties reset
Maximum fines of €960,000 (Art. 63) and €576,000 (Art. 64) under the Law of 30 March 2026.
Source: 7
- June 2026
- January 2025
No advertising where sport is played
Sponsorship limited to players’ clothing, not the front, at most 75 cm2.
Source: 1
- September 2024
Age 21 online; bonus ban
Law of 18 February 2024: minimum age 21 online and Art. 60 banning free play and benefits to recruit or retain players.
Source: 4
- January 2011
Online supplementary licences
The Law of 10 January 2010 added the A+, B+ and F1+ licences to the Gambling Act.
Source: 4
- 1999
Gambling Act
The Act of 7 May 1999 on games of chance, bets, gaming establishments and the protection of players.
Source: 4
Operator myths vs reality in Belgium
Common assumptions about gambling licensing that turn out to be wrong in practice.
- MythWe can serve Belgium with our MGA licence.
- MythWe can apply for an online-only licence.
- MythPlayer acquisition can run on bonuses.
Markets that work like Belgium
Compared on what our records hold for each country: whether online casino, betting, poker and lottery are licensed, state-run or banned, the licensing model, what the operator tax is levied on and its band, how most advertising channels are treated, and how foreign licences are treated. A point we hold for only one of the two countries counts for nothing.
- PanamaCheckedPeruReviewedGuineaAI overview
Online casino, betting, poker and lottery licensed; licensed market; GGR tax 10–20%; most ad channels restricted; foreign licences mostly blocked.
- NamibiaAI overview
Online casino, betting, poker and lottery licensed; licensed market; GGR tax 10–20%; most ad channels restricted.
- NetherlandsIn review
Online casino, betting, poker and lottery licensed; licensed market; tax on GGR; most ad channels restricted; foreign licences mostly blocked.
Methodology & sources
The research behind our Belgium coverage
Counted across every Belgium page, not this page alone.
compiled 23 Oct 2026
14
official websites
regulators, legislatures, courts
86
pages cited
specific documents, not homepages
246
sourced data points
each traced to the instrument
Across every Belgium page on this site: players, operators and the licence guide. The research report behind them cites official sources: the law, the regulator, the gazette, the courts and each platform’s own published advertising policy. Page sections not yet rewritten from the report may cite other sources.
The same research as a 70-page Belgium report: every one of the 201 checklist questions, each answer cited to the instrument behind it.
Request the Belgium reportOur Deep AI Scan took Belgium through all 201 questions of our regulatory checklist, from 84 official documents, read on 23 Oct 2026. Our research team then traced every figure on this page to the document and sentence that states it. The full research report is due to go to our compliance team. Where a fact rests on a press report or a law-firm summary rather than an official document, the page says so.
Documents cited on this page
- 1Royal Decree of 27 February 2023, advertising
- 2Constitutional Court, judgment 45/2026
- 3Constitutional Court, judgment 165/2025
- 4Gambling Act of 7 May 1999 (Justel)
- 5Gaming Commission: Royal Decree on advertising
- 6Gaming Commission: application of Article 60
- 7Law of 30 March 2026 (penalties from 1 September 2026)
- 8Gaming Commission, annual report 2025
- 9Gaming Commission: sports sponsorship
- 10EGBA Key Figures Market Report
- 11Gaming Commission FAQ: can I operate a gambling site myself?
- 12Gaming Commission: casinos (licence A - A+)
- 13Law of 30 April 2026 (Gaming Commission to the FPS Economy)
- 14Gaming Commission: list of illegal gambling sites blocked
The 10 documents this page relies on most
- Wet van 7 mei 1999 op de kansspelen, de weddenschappen, de kansspelinrichtingen en de bescherming van de spelers (Justel, tekstbijwerking tot 19-05-2026)Regulator
- Koninklijk besluit van 25 oktober 2018 betreffende de voorwaarden voor het uitbaten van kansspelen en weddenschappen via informatiemaatschappij-instrumenten (Justel, tekstbijwerking tot 20-07-2022)Regulator
- Koninklijk besluit van 27 februari 2023 tot bepaling van de nadere regels betreffende de reclame voor de kansspelen (Justel, tekstbijwerking tot 14-09-2026)Regulator
- Gaming Commission, Casinos (licence A - A+), English, last update 11/07/2024Regulator
- Kansspelcommissie, Jaarverslag 2025 (approved 17 Jul 2026)Regulator
- Royal Decree of 11 March 2026 on the contribution to the Commission's costs for civil year 2026 (Justel)Law
- Gaming Commission: Manufacturers, installers, repairers and online platform providers (licence E)Regulator
- SPW Fiscalite / Wallonie.be: 'Paying the tax on games and gambling in Wallonia (T.J.P.)' (updated 28/09/2026, process 2589)Regulator
- Royal Decree of 21 June 2011 on the quality conditions to be met by the applicant for a supplementary licenceLaw
- FPS Finance (FOD Financien): 'Belasting op de spelen en weddenschappen' (Brussels-Capital Region)Regulator
Also cited on this page
- Gaming Commission: betting (licence F1 - F2 - F1+)
- Vlabel: rate of the tax on games and bets
- Gaming Commission open data: A+ licences, 23 October 2026
84 documents in all. Request the full research report for every source, answer by answer.
Looking for the player guide?
For consumer-facing information about gambling in Belgium (tax on winnings, where to play legally, self-exclusion options), see the Belgium player guide.
Disclaimer. This page reflects the law as we understood it on 23 Oct 2026. Rules change: always check the current position with Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie / Commission des jeux de hasard). We are not a legal adviser.