Belgian Online GGR Climbs to €965m in 2025 While First-Time Registrations Fall 43.1 Percent After Age Limit Increase
Belgium’s online GGR rose 5.4% to €965m in 2025, now 59% of regulated market share, while land-based fell 7%. First-time players dropped 43.1% to 110,032 after the age limit increased to 21. Self-exclusions climbed and BAGO flagged risks of illegal-site migration.
SCCG Take — Regulators must track whether age protections shrink the licensed base without curbing overall harm; operators need retention focus to offset weaker acquisition.
Belgium’s regulated gambling market showed divergent trends in 2025. Online gross gaming revenue from licensed operators reached €965m, a 5.4 percent year-on-year increase that lifted its share to 59 percent of the total regulated market. Land-based revenue fell 7 percent to €656.09m, according to reporting by Focus Gaming News.
Data Improvements Expose Sector Splits
The Kansspelcommissie annual report benefits from revised collection practices. Operators have submitted financial data digitally each quarter since 2024. A full-time Financial Control unit hire in December 2025 allowed fuller analysis and prior-year corrections.
Land-based performance varied by channel. Casino revenue rose 5.85 percent to €152.29m. Gaming arcade revenue declined 4.17 percent. Cafés with gaming machines recorded the largest drop, 17.77 percent to €196.01m. Average daily physical venue visits fell 24.5 percent to 27,532.
Age Rule Change Coincides With Acquisition Drop
First-time online registrations declined 43.1 percent to 110,032 from 193,342 in 2024. The regulator ties part of the reduction to the minimum legal age rising from 18 to 21 in September 2024. That age band had supplied the largest share of prior new entrants.
Engagement among current users held up. Average daily active online users grew 3 percent to 160,144. Total unique online participants reached 528,706. Voluntary exclusions through the Excluded Persons Information System rose to 66,998 from 56,458, with 16,358 new requests filed and almost 76 percent submitted digitally. Stricter verification rules effective 1 May 2025 produced 715,373 blocked access attempts.
BAGO warned that younger adults may migrate to unlicensed sites. “The fact that 28 per cent 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 association stated. It urged Kansspelcommissie chair Magali Clavie to intensify black-market enforcement.
The figures illustrate the trade-off between tighter entry controls and licensed-sector vitality. Belgian authorities and operators now face the task of confirming whether protections that reduce new-player flow preserve overall market integrity or simply displace activity offshore.
Reporting: Focus Gaming News
Generated by SCCG’s automated editorial system from published source reporting. SCCG Management holds editorial responsibility.
Gaming, betting and prediction markets — the desk’s read, every weekday.
Subscribe →