Belgium cuts available sports betting licences

Belgium’s government has introduced a new royal decree reducing the maximum number of available sports betting licences in the country’s regulated market to 31.

The reduction cuts the number of so-called F1 licences down from the prior high of 34, a figure first approved a decade earlier in 2010.

However, of the 31 available licences, only 24 have been awarded with brands including Unibet, bwin and Betway among a select number of international firms to operate sports betting in Belgium.

The Belgian government solicited opinions on the proposed cut from the Belgian Gaming Commission (BGC), as well as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Budget before confirming the change.

Elsewhere, the BGC has published details of a secondary royal decree which includes revised annual licence fees payable by licensed operators throughout 2021.

Under these new standards, fees for class A&B licences have been increased to €22,085 (£19,000) for class A and €11,042 for class B respectively.

Licence fees for classes A+ and B+, which also encompass online casino, have each been increased to €11,042.

In addition, the fee for holders of a class A licence, which allows companies to operate land-based casino games, has been set at €714 per device up to a minimum of €21,475.

Class C licensees operating bingo games will have to pay €752 in 2021 as part of the new fee arrangements.

B2B licensees holding a class E licence in Belgium will now pay €12,603, with F1 and F1+ sports betting licensees also required to pay €12,603 to the BGC.

To be eligible for a Belgian gaming licence, operators must satisfy several conditions including credit worthiness, fiscal obligations, security of payment transactions, responsible gambling policies, complaints procedure and marketing policy.

In addition, servers which the company uses for data storage and website administration must be in a permanent establishment in Belgium.