Belgian watchdog group calls for legal age to be raised gambling To be nurtured.
of Flemish Center of Expertise on Alcohol and Other Drugs (VAD) has called on the Belgian government to raise the legal age for all gambling activities to 21 years.
The Flemish government’s partner organizations are actively working on prevention and education, including on drug and alcohol abuse.
Current minimum age for Belgians
Currently, Belgian gambling law allows online gambling and lotteries to accept bets from people over 18 years of age, while physical gambling accounts are restricted to 21 years of age.
The average age of gambling accounts across Europe is 18 years old, compared to most regulators in the United States. In many states in the United States, an aspiring gambler must reach the age of 21 before he can make his first online or physical bet.
Duty of care introduced by Belgium’s big six
“We are focused on creating an environment where players can participate in games of chance in a responsible and safe manner,” said Tom de, President of the Belgian Association of Game Operators (BAGO). Clerke said.
In November 2023, several Belgian gambling operators signed a duty of care agreement. BAGO is comprised of Ardent Group, Betfirst, Golden Palace, Kindred, Napoléon Sports & Casinos and Star Casino Group.
All made it clear that they take political pressure for greater transparency and reform seriously.Damien Thierry BAGO Secretary General said: “Legal gaming operators want to provide a safe form of entertainment. You cannot build a sustainable economic activity based on addiction.”
The Duty of Care Act introduced an algorithm-based detection system to identify patterns of “risky behavior”, known under the law as “markers of harm”.
In addition to this, the Belgian Gambling Commission will be given access to prevention policies to ensure that BAGO’s staff are properly trained and educated. This ensures that reality checks and interventions by gambling operators are valuable and helpful to those most at risk.
Belgium is not the only EU member state to tackle gambling reform, as announced by the Italian government Significant changes to current gambling laws. The bill, known as the Restructuring Decree, was proposed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF).
Image credit: Paul Deetman, Pexels.
