Press groups in both Flanders and French-speaking Belgium believe that the royal decree prepared by the Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne (VLD) will miss its objective and will only benefit illegal operators and foreign giants. They join the criticism made for months by the sports betting agencies, including Ladbrokes. For the latter, the text of the Minister of Justice who wants to ban all advertising will benefit the National Lottery. The Belgian media leaders are asking for the implementation of a policy of targeted channelling with regard to advertising for online gambling. They invite the Federal Government to work together for a fair regulation, in accordance with the opinion of the Gambling Commission.

After a first discussion in kern on Wednesday 7 December, at the end of which the text was sent back to the inter-cabinet meeting to review some points, the Royal Decree prepared by the Minister of Justice, Vincent Van Quickenborne (VLD) will be back on the table of the restricted Council of Ministers on Friday 9 December. And an agreement could be reached. Hence the rise of the press groups active in Belgium who fear the negative effects of the text's provisions on their activities. It must be said that the text of the liberal minister aims to ban virtually all advertising for online gambling and licensed in the media active in Belgium. "Because of the global dimension of the Internet and the massive illegal offer, it is not enough to passively make a legal offer available to players to obtain sufficient channelling. Consumers must be informed of the existence of a reliable, protected and legal offer", the leaders of the different media groups remind.

Prevention policy undermined

Among the signatories of a press release issued on Thursday 8 December are DPG Media (VTM, Qmusic, Joe, Het Laatste Nieuws), Ads & Data (Play), RTL (RTL-TVI, Club RTL, Plug RTL, RTLplay), Rossel (Le Soir, Sudinfo), IPM (La Libre, L'Avenir, La DH/Les Sports +), RMB (RTBF) and NGroup (Nostalgie, NRJ).

The latter state that the ban on gambling advertising in the media "hinders any possibility of prevention and players can no longer be redirected from the illegal circuit to the legal circuit". They argue that the licensed offer that exists today creates a framework that ensures that consumers can gamble safely and responsibly. "This is the essence of the Belgian licensing policy: gambling can only be organized under strict conditions and many measures are foreseen to protect the players", underline the leaders of the media groups.

They fear a discrimination that will penalize them in favor of operators active on social networks and online. Because the text of the royal decree prohibits advertising for games of chance on the media active in Belgium, but it is allowed on social networks and online platforms of international tech giants. "This puts media operating in Belgium at a disadvantage when they are already under heavy pressure, especially due to the dominance of social media and online platforms. The international giants will welcome additional advertising revenue from Belgium," they comment.

Revenues to fund independent information

However, they point out that the revenue from gambling advertising in their media houses allows them to inform readers and listeners in an "independent and pluralistic way" and to compete validly for the acquisition of certain sports competitions. Otherwise, more and more competitions will end up behind the paywall of a tech giant and the ability of the media to invest in quality information could also suffer.

The text of the royal decree will therefore benefit the illegal market and foreign tech giants. It has already been submitted to the European Commission and the Council of State for their opinion. According to Europe, the Belgian legislator had failed to justify the need for a ban on advertising in media operating in Belgium. A total ban is therefore radical and would have the opposite effect of what was intended.

With their exit, the media groups are only joining the criticism made for months by the sports betting agencies including Ladbrokes. In an interview, Ladbrokes Belgium's boss, Yannik Bellefroid, believes that the text of the Minister of Justice, which wants to ban all advertising, will benefit the National Lottery (click here to discover the interview). The press leaders therefore plead for the "implementation of a targeted channelling policy with regard to advertising for online gambling". They invite the Federal Government to work together for "a fair regulation, in accordance with the opinion of the Gambling Commission".