Belgium-licensed online gambling operators will have to abide by a new weekly player deposit limit of €200 as of today (20 October).

The Belgian Gambling Commission (BGC) first published the new rules three months ago, which reduced the previous player limit of €500 to €200 per week and per website.

The new deposit restrictions apply to operators of games of chance and come at a time when affordability checks are widely being discussed and implemented across the European gambling industry.

In Belgium, players can ask operators to increase the limit back to €500. Unless specifically requested, the deposit limit will remain at the new level of €200.

Upon receiving a request from an operator – on behalf of a player – to increase the limit, the authority will consult the National Bank of Belgium before deciding within three days whether the request should be granted.

If approved, the BGC then checks monthly with the National Bank whether the player has defaulted on any payments and is listed in Belgium’s Central Individual Credit Register.

If a player is listed as a debtor, the operator will have to immediately reduce the deposit limit to €200.

Players can also request that their deposit limit be lowered, and operators must process such requests immediately.

The regulator also recommended that players should not spend more than 5% of their income on gambling.

iGaming has been legal in Belgium since 2011 and operators require a licence to target Belgian consumers.

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