In mid-October last year, the organisation, together with 202 independent brokers, filed a summary procedure against the Belgian State at the Court of First Instance in Namur to oppose the identification rules that apply to all betting agencies in Belgium since 1 October. These stipulate that every time a player visits a betting agency, he or she must present their identity card, be photographed and sign a register on arrival. All data will be kept for 10 years.

The aim is to check that the person does not appear in the EPIS database, which lists gambling bans and has been used by casinos and gaming halls for many years.

GDPR

While UPAP is in favour of initiatives to improve consumer protection, the syndicate and the 202 complainant betting establishments have argued that the rule, which imposes a "massive" collection of data for 10 years, does not comply with the European Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Belgian data protection authority had also raised this issue in several opinions, UPAP noted in October.

According to the complainants, the method is "intrusive and disproportionate", whereas proportionate and consistent measures should have been chosen.

The Namur court, ruling in summary proceedings, found in favour of the betting agencies. According to an initial analysis by Yannick Bellefroid, president of the professional association and also CEO of Ladbrokes, the ruling rejects the use of the EPIS system in the betting shops of the 202 plaintiffs.