Gambling Games in Belgium
In Belgium the most popular ones are modern slots with multiple bonuses, storylines and 3D animation. The list of the slots favoured by online users includes products of such companies as Greentube, IGT, Pragmatic Play, Amusnet (EGT) and Yggdrasil, all of which hold a class E licence from the Gaming Commission. They include: Book of Ra Deluxe and Lucky Lady's Charm Deluxe (Greentube), Kitty Glitter and Pharaoh's Fortune (IGT) and Flaming Hot Extreme (Amusnet). Among live and digital table games, Belgians prefer products by Evolution and Pragmatic Play. While analysing the list of popular apps in Belgium's online casinos, it must be noted that games with quality visual components, a convenient control panel and various extra options are the ones most in demand.
Only studios certified by the Gaming Commission may supply games to Belgian licensed websites, so the choice of providers is narrower than on international sites. Newer studios such as Quickspin, ELK Studios and Booming Games have joined the certified suppliers alongside the giants of the gambling industry such as Greentube or IGT. First of all it is due to the fact that the audience of gambling facilities, including online platforms, is getting younger. The number of ladies who like to gamble has been increasing as well. Unlike men, they prefer colourful and diverse gameplay.
Gambling Legislation
Belgian legislation allows the organisation and provision of gambling games. The games include any type of entertainment that involves placing bets. They include: card games and table games, slot machines and sports betting. Sports competitions are not ranked among the gambling games. Also, the card and table games that are played during carnivals and fairs are not considered as gambling, as they are organised for charity purposes. Any operation in the area of gambling is permissible only if a license has been issued by the Gaming Commission of Belgium. Advertising unlicensed facilities and participation in games on these platforms is punishable by law.
Gaming regulators and laws
Operations of gambling platforms are regulated by the Gaming Commission of Belgium. The commission operates in compliance with the Gaming and Betting Act adopted in May 7, 1999, as amended by the Act of January 10, 2010 on the legalisation of online gambling and by the Act of February 18, 2024. Since June 1, 2026 the Gaming Commission has fallen under the Federal Public Service Economy instead of the Federal Public Service Justice (Act of April 17, 2026). Two Royal Decrees cover online gambling industry in addition to the pertinent laws. The first Decree states that the operator must provide the data concerning its name, the structure of the website, the server and the contacts. The second Decree requires that the operator provides the following information:
- Creditworthiness of the operator
- Financial liabilities
- The company's marketing policies
- Protection of personal data and transactions made by the clients
- Policies concerning socially vulnerable groups of the population
The Decrees require an ongoing interaction between the operators of online gambling platforms and the Gaming Commission of Belgium. Gambling services are liable to taxation. Gambling tax is set by the three regions; for online games of chance the rate is 11% of the operator's gross margin, while bets are taxed at 15%. From July 2016 online casinos were also subject to 21% value added tax, but the Constitutional Court annulled this measure on March 22, 2018, and online gambling has again been exempt from VAT since then.
Online Gambline in Belgium
Online gambling has been allowed in the territory of Belgium since 2011. А+, В+ and F1+ licenses are only issued to those people or companies that are represented physically. It means that in order to conduct sports betting one has to have an F1 bookmakers license and own at least one physical betting point. The popularity of online gambling has been increasing year after year. The increase in demand can be tracked by analysing the reports of annual revenues of online facilities. In 2025, for example, online gross gaming revenue reached 964.5 million EUR (up 5.4% on 2024), or almost 60% of the regulated market: online casinos made 554.1 million EUR, online gambling halls made 165.8 million EUR, and bookmakers that accept bets on their websites made 244.6 million EUR. These are the online licences registered in Belgium in September 2026:
- Online casinos (A+ licences) - 9
- Online gambling halls (B+ licences) - 48
- Sports betting websites (F1+ licences) - 24
- Internet poker rooms - offered under casino and gambling hall licences (PokerStars, GGPoker)
- Online lottos - operated by the National Lottery
The online casinos with the most visitors are Napoleon Casino, StarCasino, Casino777, Unibet Casino, Circus Casino and Bwin Casino, all of which operate under an A+ licence linked to one of the nine land-based casinos; other A+ websites include Betano Casino, Ladbrokes Casino, Betsson Casino and PokerStars. Among B+ websites, Madison Casino is one of the most visited. Players can deposit no more than 200 EUR per week per website by default (since October 2022); a higher limit can be requested only by players who are not registered as defaulters with the National Bank.
Besides slots and online table games, there are other types of gambling entertainment that are popular in Belgium. They include bingo, lotto and fantasy sports. Also, the popularity of mobile casinos has been on the rise lately. Since September 1, 2024 licensed operators may no longer offer bonuses, free bets or free games, and a website may carry only one type of online licence.
Gambling Licensing
Gaming Commission of Belgium issues several types of licenses. They include:
- Class A license - issued to casinos for the period of 15 years (at most 9 licences, all of them granted)
- А+ - setting up an online casino (only for holders of an A licence; a guarantee of 250,000 EUR is required)
- В - gambling halls with slot machines, issued for the period of 9 years
- В+ - slot machines and online arcades
- С - issued to drinking establishments so they can have slot machines in their venues
- D - operating license that covers all classes listed above
- E - license for purchase and sales, and import and export of gambling equipment
- F1, F1+ and F2 - licenses that cover betting, which authorise the holder to accept bets in land-based points of sale, as well as from online and mobile devices
- G1 and G2 - licenses for conducting lotteries and tournaments with the involvement of TV broadcasting companies and other media
Licensing in Belgium requires payments to be made. A casino license costs 15,000 EUR, a license to run gambling halls costs 7,500 EUR, and a license to sell and repair gambling equipment costs 2,500 EUR. A company may hold only one type of license. The application for a license is submitted to the Gaming Commission of Belgium along with a number of documents. They include:
- Personal identification of the founder/founders of the company
- A certificate of compliance with political and civil rights
- Notarised copies of tax returns (last three)
- An extract from the judicial report (no later than three months from the date of receipt)
Sufficient capital to qualify for a permit to run a gambling industry. The size of the capital depends on the type of license:
- А, А+ - 250,000 EUR
- B, B+ - 75,000 EUR
- E - 25,000 EUR
- F1 - 10,000 EUR
- F1+ - 75,000 EUR
- G1 - 80,000 EUR
Licensed gambling in Belgium
The list of permitted gambling is regulated by Royal Decree. The Decree complements the 1999 Gambling Act. Table games and automatic games are allowed in Belgian casinos. Table games include poker, baccarat, blackjack, roulette, sic bo and bingo. Automatic games include slots, betting terminals, video poker and others. Slot machines provide a number of games for establishments of various types. These are the slots that are available in casinos: Ones with reels and video slots, Video poker, Digital versions of bingo and keno, Horse racing betting terminals and The Wheel of Fortune. Gambling halls are allowed to have slot machines (up to 30) and digital versions of table games: Blackjack, Poker, Roulette games, Betting terminals and Dice games. Drinking establishments are allowed to have no more than two slot machines. Digital version of pool is one of the games that are allowed.
Laws protecting gamblers in Belgium
Persons who have reached the age of 21 have the right to visit casinos and gambling halls. Until August 2024 persons over the age of 18 could play slot machines and place bets in drinking establishments; since September 1, 2024 the minimum age of 21 applies to all games of chance and betting, online and offline (lotteries are not covered). Payments are made in cash in all types of facilities, except for the casinos. Holders of online licences may not accept credit cards as a deposit method. Gambling advertising has been banned in principle since the Royal Decree of February 27, 2023, with limited exceptions for licence holders.
Bets in casinos and gambling halls are accepted using coupons or chips, which are bought for real money. Bonus coupons and chips can also be converted to real money in these establishments. The only bets that are accepted in real currency are sports bets. The King of Belgium is the one who sets the limits for bets, wins and losses: in gambling halls you can place your bets in amounts that are no higher than 25 EUR in one hour, in drinking establishments the overall hourly bet cannot exceed 12.5 EUR and in betting points you can bet no more that 12.5 EUR in one hour. Any violation of the Gambling Law on the part of the operators is punishable by one month to three years of confinement. Violators will also pay a fine of 0.64 to 2,478 EUR. In the case of a repeated violation, the penalties will be doubled, the facility's money seized and the gambling equipment impounded.
Belgium Gambling Software Developers
Today there are no prominent Belgian developers of online slots in the world's gambling market. The developers that operate in the gambling industry are mostly preoccupied with the production of equipment and software products for land-based casinos. They are: Belgian Gaming Technology, Elaut N.V. (Victory & Dice Roulette), GAA and Seeben. Belgian Gaming Technology supplies the equipment for the casinos, distributes physical slot machines made by manufacturers worldwide and provides services and technical support.
Elaut N.V. (Victory & Dice Roulette) manufactures the equipment for land-based casinos. The company produces roulette games and the dice and sets up combined platforms for table games. GAA is a developer and distributor of equipment for table games and bingo. Seeben supplies digital equipment and software products for casinos throughout Belgium.
Development of the Gambling Market in Belgium
Today the gambling industry in Belgium is legalised and well-developed. Gambling services are provided both in land-based facilities and online. Most of the companies represented on the Belgian gambling market are local. Yet the Gaming Commission also cooperates with the world famous suppliers. For example, Belgians have been using the services of famous poker rooms such as PokerStars and GGPoker, which operate in Belgium through licences held by local casino and gambling hall operators. In the 2010s the Betcenter online sportsbook launched an affiliate programme with a Canadian developer named Income Access, and the management of an authoritative national brand called Circus Group entered into a partnership with Betsoft, a developer of software products for online casinos. In recent years international brands such as Unibet, bwin, Ladbrokes, Betano and Betsson have also entered the market in partnership with licensed Belgian casinos. The federal government agreement of January 2025 provides for a modernisation of the gambling legislation and a reform of the Gaming Commission; as a first step, the Commission was transferred to the Federal Public Service Economy on June 1, 2026. At the same time, legislation continues to stick to the policies of protecting the players from gambling addiction, to impose limits on permissible amounts of bets, deposits and losses and to blacklist any suspicious platforms. In 2025 the Commission reported that the number of new online players had halved, which it partly attributes to the higher minimum age and partly to players moving to illegal websites.
Gambling industry in Belgium is strictly regulated by legislation. Both land-based and web-based facilities operate exclusively under the licenses issued by the Gaming Commission of Belgium. Each year the commission inspects various online platforms and checks them for reliability, while controlling the market. Any suspicious or banned websites are blacklisted immediately.Gambling industry in Belgium brings millions in profits, yet at the same time cares about the safety of the consumers. Decrees by the King of Belgium impose limits on bets and losses allowable within the period of one hour. These are the measures taken to fight ludomania.