“National Lottery letter has nothing to do with gambling advertising restrictions”

Following the European Football Championship last year, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Vincent Van Quickenborne announced in parliament on 24 June 2021 that he was going to tighten the rules on gambling advertising. On 7 September, a meeting was held with the aid sector to discuss this issue and, based on their input, a regulatory framework was developed.

As part of the budget consultation, which saved 1 billion euros, the government decided to increase the monopoly rate of the National Lottery by 10 million euros to 145 million euros in the years 2022, 2023 and 2024. As a result, on 1 October 2021 a letter sent by the director of the National Lottery to the State Secretary of the National Lottery and the Minister of the Budget. In it, he asks, among other things, that stricter rules be introduced regarding gambling advertising. In further elaborating the restrictions on gambling advertising, there has been no consultation in any way with the National Lottery, according to Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne.

“Crazy”

“The reason we want to ban gambling advertising is the devastating effects of gambling addiction. Not a letter from the Lottery. By the way, in my proposal I do not spare the National Lottery. Their sports betting also falls under those strict rules,” said the minister.

The conclusion is clear to him: “The gambling industry is a multi-billion dollar business that makes 40% of its profits on the hood of the misery of gambling addicts and their families. They will stop at nothing. They had known for some time that I was working on strict restrictions on gambling advertising and I have never felt so much lobbying as I did during that period. There was constant lobbying from the sector itself, the sports world and also the commercial media. I was not influenced by this. The insinuation that I would have allowed myself to be influenced by the National Lottery has therefore been completely disregarded. The truth is that the gambling lobby is once again trying to undercut this proposal. They won’t succeed. These strict rules are needed and they will come.”