Since October 1, betting agencies in the country have been required to ask players for identification. This is to ensure that they are not on the Epis list of banned players. The agencies must also take a photo of the players, who must also sign a register each time they visit. Even if it's several times a day. All of this is kept for ten years.

Data protection

This measure, which is the subject of a law last July and a royal decree of application, was taken in the name of the protection of players. But, as the president of the Professional Union of Betting Agencies (UPAP) and boss of Ladbrokes Belgium, Yannik Bellefroid, has been saying for months, this law violates the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). The UPAP therefore introduces this Tuesday morning an appeal against the state.

But not just the UPAP. The Professional Union is followed by 202 commission agents who say that, since the new law came into force, it is a disaster in terms of attendance. "The first feedback from the field highlights a loss of turnover of some 25% in the head of independents who manage betting agencies," says Bellefroid.

The system concerns the whole country but it is in front of the court of first instance in Namur that the appeal will be filed, as confirmed by lawyers Audrey Lackner and Audrey Despontin. "It concerns Wallonia as well as Brussels and Flanders," Audrey Lackner tells us. "The violation of the GDPR has not been taken into account either by the minister or by the parliamentarians who voted for this law." What the lawyers and their clients reproach the State? "It is the disproportion between the means used and the goal to be achieved," says Ms. Lackner. "The fact of taking a photo, the conservation of data for 10 years, for example, compared to the goal sought, which is the protection of players. The principle of proportionality requires that the means requested are necessary for the purpose. This is clearly not the case here. Moreover, it is enough to walk through the door of an agency, even if you don't gamble, or even if you bet two euros, to be recorded for ten years."

Discrimination

In addition, as we have already pointed out, betting agencies raise discrimination in relation to bookstores and the National Lottery. To play in a bookstore, it is not necessary to use the Epis list: "If the aim of the legislator is to prevent addiction, then it should be done for everyone", says Audrey Lackner.

It should be added that mandatory registration, consultation of the Epis list, photo-taking and data retention already existed for casinos and gaming halls.