Industry News - Belgium

Belgian Court Calls On ECJ To Referee Football Image Rights Dispute

25/02/2009: The Court of Appeals in Liège has asked the ECJ to clarify whether EU regulations award it competency to rule over an image rights dispute brought by several of Europe’s leading football clubs against prominent online gambling companies including Ladbrokes, William Hill, Betfair, Bwin and Unibet. The case dates back to 2005 and had included footballers David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane as plaintiffs until Real Madrid withdrew from the proceedings last year

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Belgian Senate Paves Way For Online Licensing Change

03/10/2008: New draft legislation prepared by the Belgian Senate would allow the holders of terrestrial licences to apply for ‘licence+’ permissions to offer their services via the internet. The measures would also greatly enhance the power of the country’s Gaming Commission, and impose new limits on the number of licensed betting shops in the country.

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Belgium - A Regulatory Overview

29/02/2008: With the recent turmoil in the Belgian political spectrum, it is hard to predict when the anticipated overhaul of gaming legislation will take place despite a draft Bill being debated in 2007. Recent events such as a crackdown on illegal betting shops and a ban of Unibet's cycle racing team have put gaming issues in the spotlight. A new casino, opened in Brussels in 2006, has proven quite successful and gambling activity is increasing steadily, be it online or in the country's 500 betting shops

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Legislative Proposal sent to Belgium Parliament

10/01/2007: The government has already sent its legislative proposal to the parliament where the 'Legal Affairs Committee' will soon start working on it. The Government is acting surprisingly fast, which means that there is also some time pressure on our side.

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Legislative Proposal Reviewing the Gambling Law lifted out of Programme Law

10/01/2007: The 'legislative proposal reviewing the gambling law' has been lifted out of the Programme Law, which was voted upon in the Chamber and the Senate just before Christmas. This is an unusual development since it is common practice that the Parliament usually simply ‘rubber stamps’ the Programme Law without debate.

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Belgium Government Adopts Change on Law on Games of Chance

20/07/2006: The Belgian government adopted a proposal to change the Law on ‘Games of Chance, Gaming Establishments and the Protection of Players’ (of the 7th May 1999). The current legislative proposal aims to extend the remit of the Gaming Commission to all ‘games of chance’, gambling and betting and by including an article on games of chance provided via the internet.

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