Home » OCW News » January 2010 » Belgium Latest to Flout EU Online Gambling Directives

Belgium Latest to Flout EU Online Gambling Directives

Date published: 6 January 2010

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Since online gambling became a mainstream pastime across most of Europe, the European Union (EU) has tried to standardize the lucrative internet activity by introducing free trade agreements, however many EU members have chosen to ignore the agreements, the latest being Belgium.

The issue of online gambling is a highly contentious one across Europe. While forward-thinking countries like the UK have recognized the benefits of legalizing and regulating their online gambling industry to benefit both players and the state (through taxation), not all EU countries are eager to follow suit.

In Belgium, lawmakers seem to fed up being told by the EU how to run their online gambling interests. To the point that they have clearly decided to ignore EU online gambling free trade agreements and directives, and instead introduce new laws of their own to regulate online gambling in Belgium.

Belgium lawmakers explained that the drastic move was taken because they felt that the current online gambling infrastructure was being corrupted by organized crime. They said that their laws are designed to keep their online gambling industry 'crime-free', but that they did violate EU agreements.

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In June last year after getting wind of Belgium's proposed online gambling laws, the EU warned the country that passing its own laws would be in violation. Belgium, however, ignored the warning and passed its own online gambling laws. They reportedly have a particular focus on online poker regulation.

The laws are expected to have a drastic affect on online poker fans in Belgium because they will legally not be allowed to play on many of the world's leading online poker rooms including PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, PartyPoker and many more. Even Belgium's professional poker players face prosecution.

This is equally not good news for Europe's major online gambling firms that up until now have tapped into the lucrative Belgium online gambling market. The EU has come under fire for allowing some EU countries - like Italy - to pass its own online gambling laws, but then tries to dictate to other countries.