Bookmakers protest against Belgian National Lottery

Three of Belgium’s licensed bookmakers have filed a protest with the Belgian State Council over the decision to award a sports betting licence to the country’s state-run lottery, writes Steven Stradbrooke of gambling website CalvinAyre.com. Stanleybet, Bingoal and Betfirst argue that there was no justification for the Belgian Royal Decree in August authorising the National Lottery’s sports betting bid, especially since Belgian gaming law expressly states that only 34 offline sports betting licences would be issued, and these are already spoken for. Last week, Stanleybet issued a statement saying the decision had breached “a number of Constitutional and EU principles” and gave the lottery “a beneficial and privileged situation as it is explicitly granted a new licence for the organisation of bets while all the other private operators have to follow an application procedure”.

Read the full article on the Calvin Ayre website.