Belgian online casinos for Real Money

Firstly, let’s look at Belgium’s 1999 Gambling Act. It states that Belgians must be aged 18 to gamble, rising to 21 to enter a casino. This piece of legislation (which has been amended several times) makes it clear that each type of gambling game or option is different from the rest and is subject to different rules.

License A (Class 1) is awarded to casinos, License B (Class 2) is awarded to amusement arcades, while licenses C and D (Class 3) are required to offer gambling in cafes or bingo halls that sell alcohol, and employees at gambling establishments. License E (Class 3) covers the sale, rent and production of games, while License F1, F2, F+, F1 and G2 (Class 4) cover the organisers of bets, sportsbooks, games of chance (via television) and games of chance (excluding the internet).

Online gambling has been legal in Belgium since 2011. However, there are caveats to this. Prior to 2011, Belgium did not block gambling sites, and the industry was unregulated. After the country legalised internet betting, the Belgian authorities have relentlessly blocked any sites they come across that haven’t obtained a nationally issued gambling license.

The Belgian licensing authority (Belgian Gaming Commission) strictly regulates the internet betting industry. For starters, you can only use debit cards to deposit (not credit cards). Secondly, there is a limit of €500 per week in place. Finally, all Belgian licensing sites must promote responsible gambling, have adequate tools to protect players, and display the “gamble in moderation” slogan in either French, Flemish or both languages on their pages.

The way that Belgium regulates its online gambling industry is strict. By actively banning and demanding ISPs block access to all foreign sites (any non-Belgian licensed gambling site), the country that is at the heart of the EU is breaking EU law and causing plenty of controversy while doing so. While in other countries, foreign operators have managed to take countries to court (and win) when they break EU law, the Belgian courts refuse to listen, consistently finding in favour of the Belgian government.

Belgian only issues 180 casino/arcade licenses and 43 bookmaker licenses. These are all filled. The only way foreign sites can get into the Belgian market is by affiliating and partnering with an already existing Belgian enterprise.

Finding offshore casinos to play at is tricky in Belgian. The Belgian authorities instruct their ISPs (in coordination with the Belgian police) to block access to any foreign sites they see. As such, most of those to escape the ban are relatively unknown (possibly unsafe). VPN usage isn’t normally tolerated at bigger, top-tier operators. There is no penalty in place for Belgians who manage to get around such blocks and play at offshore casinos, though.

Belgians love to wager on all manner of games. However, arguably the most bizarre of games that is popular in the tiny European country are dice slots. These have a unique gaming structure that ensures that they are treated differently from conventional slot machines. Slots aren’t as popular as you might imagine, with many Belgians favouring table games. Sports betting is a huge business in the country, while many Belgians also like betting on horses. The Euro Millions is the most favoured lottery in the country.

There are plenty of Belgian providers of land-based games, but very few of these have come to the forefront when it comes to online gambling. You can find a few notable exceptions, like Supergame. However, Belgian-licensed sites aren’t required to feature software from local developers, so many opt to obtain their games from open gaming platforms like SoftSwiss, and feature games from many of today’s most recognisable top-tier developers.

Belgian casinos aren’t under any sort of command to only accept Belgian players. In theory, anybody can sign up and play at them. However, they will likely need Belgian credentials when it comes to verifying their account (the KYC process), and that could be a problem.

While Belgians can play at offshore casinos targeting them, there aren’t many of these around. The authorities tend to block access to them rapidly when they are found. Even international casinos that don’t specifically target players from Belgium struggle to make it through the ban, so many of these sites will actively prevent Belgians from signing up at their sites.