Belgium’s online gambling revenue rises 5.4% as new online players fall 43%

Total gross gaming revenue was almost unchanged at €1.62 billion, as online growth offset a 7.17% fall in land-based takings.

Belgium’s licensed gambling market barely moved in 2025, but the gap between online and land-based play widened again. The Kansspelcommissie (KSC) reported online gross gaming revenue (GGR) of €964.5 million, up 5.41% on the previous year. Land-based revenue fell 7.17% to €656.1 million. Total GGR came to €1.62 billion, down 0.07%. Online play accounted for 59.51% of the regulated market.

Casinos grow, cafés fall sharply

Casinos were the only offline category to grow, according to the KSC’s 2025 annual report. Casino venues took €152.3 million, up 5.85%.

Arcades took €184.7 million, down 4.17%. Cafés, where the machines are mainly bingo terminals and low-stake games, took €196 million, down 17.77%. Betting venues took €123 million, down 6.60%. Cafés remain the largest offline channel at 30% of the total.

Casino sites drive online growth

Online revenue grew 5.41% to €964.5 million, but not evenly. Casino licence holders took €554.1 million online, up 12.99%, and now hold 58% of all online revenue. Arcade licence holders fell for a second year, down 13.66% to €165.8 million.

Betting operators took €244.6 million, up 5.18%. That is 66.5% of all betting revenue, against 23.75% for betting shops and 9.64% for newsagents.

Players staked €2.75 billion online across the year, with 91.11% returned in winnings.

The KSC flagged the 68.91% fall for bookmakers. More operators supplied bookmaker data in 2024 than in 2023, it said, and the number of respondents in 2025 was again comparable to 2023. Measured against 2023, the category fell 5%, in line with the other offline locations.

Fewer newcomers, more daily players

The number of people registering with a licensed online operator for the first time fell 43.1% to 110,032, from 193,342 in 2024.

The KSC said a small part of that decline is explained by the law that raised the minimum gambling age from 18 to 21 on 1 September 2024.

Average daily active online players rose 3% to 160,144. Across the year, 528,706 people gambled online at least once, down from 602,288 in 2024. Average daily visits to land-based venues fell to 27,532, from 36,470.

Self-exclusions and blocked visits both climb

Voluntary self-exclusions stood at 66,998 at 31 December 2025, against 56,458 a year earlier. The regulator handled 16,358 self-exclusion applications during the year, 75.98% of them submitted through itsme.

Operators have been required to check every player against the Excluded Persons Information System (EPIS) before granting access since 1 May 2025. The KSC recorded 715,373 blocked visits in 2025, of which 690,074 were online.

Operators point to the illegal market

BAGO, the association representing five licensed Belgian operators, said the regulator’s figures confirm that consumers are turning to the illegal market at an accelerating pace. A KSC survey of 1,000 people aged 18 to 30, carried out by DataSynergy, found that 28% had played on an illegal site and that 53% had gambled recently.

BAGO said in a statement on 16 September (translated from Dutch):

‘The fact that 28% of respondents aged 18 to 30 state they have already played on an illegal gambling site is an alarm signal that cannot be ignored. The far-reaching restrictions imposed on licensed operators render legal and regulated gaming alternatives invisible, while the illegal and clandestine circuit continues its aggressive marketing efforts to attract players.’

BAGO backed KSC chair Magali Clavie’s call to strengthen the regulator, and urged the government to prioritise action against the illegal market and its financial flows.

Clavie wrote that the commission asked Meta to remove more than 8,500 adverts placed by illegal operators using the names, logos or visual identity of licensed Belgian operators.

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