Belgium’s government is to introduce a new deposit limit for online gambling, with players able to deposit up to €200 (£171/$204) a week per licensed website.
The Royal Decree, published in the Belgian Official Gazette, will come into effect from 20 October, with the deposit limit to apply to all players across all verticals.
Each week will be calculated on the last seven days of activity and will move continuously, the decree said, with all players’ limits to be reset to €200 when the decree enters into force in October.
However, the decree also set out a provision for players to request an increased deposit limit. The operator in question must first notify Belgium’s Gaming Commission (BGC), which will then check with the National Bank of Belgium whether the player is listed in the Central Individual Credit Register of the National Bank of Belgium as being in default of payment.
If the player is not listed, the deposit limit may be removed three days after the request was made, meaning the player will be able to deposit an unlimited amount with that operator.
The BGC will continuously monitor those players who have had their deposit limit removed to ensure they are not in default of payment. Should a player be flagged, they will have their weekly deposit limit reinstated.
Similarly, players may also request a lower deposit limit than €200, which the operator must process immediately. Such requests must be made to each operator with which the player has an account.
“In order not to risk becoming a problematic gambler and to keep the game fun, it is recommended not to spend more than 5% of your income for this purpose,” the regulator said. “If you win €2,000, this means that your deposit limit should not exceed €25 per week.”
The new Royal Decree comes after Belgium’s Council of State last month upheld the BGC’s interpretation of a number of rules, including its decision to enforce deposit limits even though the planned steps for these limits to be increased cannot be implemented yet.
However, it did also overturn some restrictions, such as one on minimum self-exclusion times.
