Belgium online gambling rises to 14.8% despite ad ban

The Sciensano Health Interview Survey 2023-2024 found 14.8% of Belgians gambled online, up from 7.9% in 2018. The survey measured gambling activity over the 12 months before collection.

Overall, 31.9% of the population gambled at least once in the past 12 months and 8.0% gambled weekly. Online play rose most sharply among 25-to-34-year-olds, where 20.2% reported gambling online.

Using the PGSI short form, 2.6% of the total population screened at risk of problem gambling; among people who gambled in the past year the rate was 7.7%.

Belgium introduced a 2023 law that bars licensed private gambling operators from advertising on television, radio, newspapers, magazines and social media, and from direct communications including email, post and SMS. Exceptions allow in-venue messages, content on operators’ own websites and certain targeted search ads.

A separate ban on sports sponsorship by private operators took effect at the start of 2025.

The National Lottery is largely outside the country’s Gambling Act and continues broad advertising on television, radio and social media. Lottery games were the most-played type, with 29.5% of the population reporting play; Sciensano estimates lottery players account for about 92% of all Belgian gamblers.

Sciensano reported weekly exposure to gambling advertising at 52.6% of the population. Channel breakdowns were 51.1% for television, 47.3% for websites and apps, 46.4% for social media, 45.2% for street advertising, 44.1% for in-shop displays and 28.6% for newspapers and magazines.

The survey and industry groups reported an active illegal online market. Unlicensed operators reach Belgian consumers through social media, affiliate platforms and influencer channels. Those operators often do not connect to the national self-exclusion database (EPIS), enforce weekly deposit limits, perform robust age checks, or meet the player protection standards required of licensed firms.

The Belgian Association of Gaming Operators (BAGO) called for stronger enforcement. BAGO wrote: “The 52.6% weekly advertising reach is not driven only by licensed private operators; it is shaped by actors operating outside the ban, under transitional regimes, or failing to comply with the rules.”

Belgian authorities have not announced a comprehensive nationwide enforcement campaign targeting the illegal online market at the same scale as recent measures introduced in other jurisdictions. Regulators and industry groups identified enforcement as central to addressing persistent advertising reach and the growth in online participation.