In world where more nations are liberalizing their online gambling sectors to allow for increased competition, Belgium has been something of a outlier. While they have actuallyn’t banned Web gambling enterprises, they have been extremely aggressive about blacklisting sites that they do not accept of, forcing Internet providers to block access to them and preventing them from operating into the nation.

But while these measures have kept the online that is belgian gaming rather restricted, regulators in the world want to get even further. In an open letter to the next government of Belgium, the Belgian video gaming Commission (BGC) has requested further restrictions on the gambling industry and a tighter legal framework for approved operators to function within.

The request comes since the BGC reports that nearly 3 times as much players in the united kingdom participated in on the web gambling when compared to those that used gambling that is land-based inside the country. In the Commission’s viewpoint, Internet gambling can’t be considered ‘as a normal economic activity,’ and as such, the heavy use of such sites is concerning.

Concerns Over Performing Identification, Participation by Minors

Among the major concerns expressed by the BGC is their feeling that player identification software is lacking. This is a common issue for online gambling operators around the world, depending on just just how certain one wants to be about who is playing for a provided account: verification can be quite strong during the sign-up process, but it is much more difficult to be sure who’s using that account afterwards.

The Commission noticed that this might be important for Belgium, as being a law that does not enable individuals taking part in a collective debt procedure to be involved in gambling activity could be undermined if players can get around identification at on the web sites. As such, they’ve recommended using registration that is national to offer improved control over account recognition, and have now proposed legislation that would put this into effect.

The BGC has also recommended cracking down on social gaming. The Commission has argued that these games can steer players towards real money games down the road, making them dangerous for minors. But while there can be a link between social and real cash gaming, the Belgian federal government hasn’t shown much of an interest in regulating such games so far.

Commission Really Wants to Target Players on Blacklisted Sites

Finally, the BGC also asked for more restrictions that are general the online world gaming industry in the nation. The Commission accused the government of being more interested in generating revenues from on the web gambling than following the intent associated with country’s legislation on the subject, which they say had been designed to only offer Belgians a restricted selection of legal games.

With that in mind, the Commission’s suggestions included some strong measures to restrict the video gaming industry. For instance, they’ve floated the possibility of prosecuting individual Belgians who’re gambling outside the regulated Belgian sites. In addition, they’ve asked for a bigger budget and much more workers for the BGC itself to simply help in enforcement of present and future guidelines. This would be on top of a doubling that is recent of number of inspectors in the BGC staff, also earlier threats to get after players who gamble on blacklisted sites.

Any new restrictions would further cement Belgium’s reputation as you of Europe’s most heavily regulated online gambling markets. The nation has consistently added popular (but unapproved) web sites to its blacklist, with almost 100 sites now blocked in the nation. Only approved sites which have partnered with local brick-and-mortar casinos are allowed to provide online betting in the united kingdom.