Study: Every second young Belgian gambles in illegal online casinos

Around half of Belgian males up to the age of 21 have already played in an illegal online casino. This is the result of a recent study by the Belgian gambling association BAGO. But why is it that so many young Belgians resort to illegal gambling and what consequences are now planned based on the new findings?

Back in October 2021, we at GambleJoe reported that a new gambling reform had come into force in Belgium. The Belgian Gambling Association has now presented the results of a recent study. According to the study, around one in two Belgians up to the age of 21 has already played in an illegal online casino. Since September of this year, a minimum age of 21 has applied in Belgium in order to participate in online gambling.

Illegal online casinos are a serious problem

The gambling association points out that strict player protection measures in the legal gambling market lead to young people in particular switching to illegal offers. With just a few clicks, young people and adolescents can find any number of illegal online casinos on the Internet where they can start playing straight away without age checks or other protective measures. In contrast, legal providers are subject to strict age checks. In addition, a deposit limit of 200 euros per week has applied here since summer 2022.

For this reason, the Belgian association is now calling for illegal gambling to be combated more intensively. According to the survey conducted by the gambling association, almost a third of Belgians name an illegal provider when asked about a gambling provider in general. In particular, the presence of illegal providers on social networks and search engines means that they are much more popular with young Belgians than their legal competitors. Consequently, it is of fundamental importance to curb illegal gambling advertising on social networks such as Facebook or Instagram.

Another problem from the gambling watchdog's point of view is sponsorship in professional sport. In Belgium, too, there are numerous illegal gambling providers that act as official sponsors of popular clubs. Accordingly, the names of these illegal online casinos are familiar to the young population. It was only in February of this year that we asked ourselves why players are active in online casinos without a license.

Conclusion

According to the BAGO study, one in two Belgians under the age of 21 has already played in an illegal online casino. Due to the high popularity of illegal providers, it is now particularly important to strengthen the legal gambling market. Here, players are comprehensively protected from the dangers of gambling. However, a minimum age of 21 has recently been introduced, forcing young Belgians with an affinity for gambling to switch to the illegal market.

Source of the image: https://pixabay.com/de/illustrations/flagge-belgien-europa-1192656/