Decline in betting in Belgium despite a great summer of sport

The summer of 2024 truly had a lot to offer in terms of sporting events. In addition to the standard finals of the continent's major football leagues and the annual Champions League finals, there was the UEFA European Championship and the Summer Olympics to boot. This undoubtedly provided all kinds of turnover opportunities for the sports betting industry. Despite the events, however, the Belgian Gaming Authority recently announced a drop in the number of participants compared to previous top competitions. What could be the reason for this?

The summer of 2024 offered enormous potential for the sports betting industry: UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany and the Summer Olympics in Paris took centre stage as major events and were seen as sure revenue guarantors. However, the latest figures from the Belgian gambling supervisory authority Kansspelcommissie paint a surprising picture.

This development can be attributed to several possible factors:

1. On the one hand, the sports betting market is increasingly feeling the effects of the stricter regulations in Belgium. Since the tightening of gambling regulations in 2023 (we reported on this in advance), online providers have had to adhere to considerable advertising restrictions, which affects the reach of their campaigns and the acquisition of new customers. Incidentally, the minimum age for gambling in Belgium was just raised to 21 in September of this year. In the course of this, it was realised that fewer and fewer young people in the country are using such offers, which of course also contributes to the declining numbers.
2. On the other hand, there is also a growing public awareness of problematic gambling behaviour, which is further strengthened by awareness campaigns and prevention measures. As a result, players are not only better informed, but also more cautious when deciding to bet online.
3. The sporting appeal may also have played a role: While a World Cup usually attracts a global audience and mobilises a large number of national interests or bets, the UEFA Euro - despite its high status - seems to have had less traction this year (at least in Belgium). The reason for this is simple: as we already noted in our article on the impressive betting balance at Euro 2024, Belgium had to return home surprisingly early and thus contributed relatively little to the event's overall gigantic turnover.

Also interesting: As one of the main sponsors of the European Championships, betting provider Betano is increasingly becoming a global player.

‘Summer of Sports 2024’ provides further interesting, sometimes impressive figures

The ‘Summer of Sports 2024’ report by the Belgian gambling supervisory authority provides detailed insights into the betting behaviour of Belgian players during UEFA Euro 2024 and the Summer Olympics. The figures impressively show how much betting activity around the football tournament differed from the Olympics.

Remarkable analyses of age groups, betting turnover and returns at the European Championships are published.

• Daily activity of online bettors: During Euro 2024, an average of 196,952 Belgian punters were active online every day. Although this was lower than the 219,971 daily active players at the 2022 World Cup, it was higher than the 191,434 at Euro 2020, which took place in 2021 due to the pandemic. At the last World Cup, Belgium was eliminated in the preliminary round, but the numbers are still higher. This fact once again suggests that the appeal of the World Cup is generally stronger than that of continental tournaments.
• Age distribution of players: The age group of 21 to 29-year-olds was the most active at Euro 2024 with 31 per cent, followed by 30 to 39-year-olds (26 per cent) and 40 to 49-year-olds (17.2 per cent). This distribution suggests that younger adults in particular are interested in betting on major events.
• Turnover and winnings: The average amount bet online each day was an impressive €8.6 million, with players winning an average of €7.5 million per day. For the operators, this resulted in an average gross gaming revenue of 1.1 million euros on each day of the event - a figure that illustrates the economic importance of the football tournament for the industry.
• Most popular match: The group match between the Belgian national team and Slovakia proved to be particularly attractive for betting fans. A total of 14.9 million euros were bet on the match. Of this, 7.4 million went back to the winners. The operators recorded a turnover of 7.6 million euros. These figures show how strongly the participation of a national team in a major event can influence betting behaviour in the country concerned. If the Belgians had gone further, the report would certainly have had a completely different slant.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games also caused movement on the Belgian betting market, albeit to a much lesser extent than Euro 2024.

• Daily online player numbers: During the Olympic Games, the daily average of online gamblers was 134,745, noticeably lower than the figures for Euro 2024 (196,952). This discrepancy highlights the dominant position of football compared to other sports in terms of betting behaviour.
• Age distribution: The 21 to 29 age group also showed the highest level of activity at the Olympic Games (29.6 per cent), followed by the 30 to 39 age group (27.3 per cent) and the 40 to 49 age group (19.2 per cent).
• Average daily betting volume: Around 6.1 million euros were bet on the Olympic Games every day, with an average winning volume of 5.5 million. The bookmakers were able to record 546,858 euros as revenue. Interestingly, the men's hockey match ‘Belgium vs Spain’ was the most popular match of the tournament with a betting volume of 7.8 million euros. Incidentally, the gambling authority in France estimates that the betting volume at the Summer Olympics totalled around 9 billion euros worldwide.

Conclusion

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