Interactive
Belgium – Online casinos overtake land-based in Belgium for the first time
By Phil - 18 November 2019
The year 2017 saw a major shift in gambling habits in Belgium with the online casino sector generated more revenue than the bricks and mortar casino sector.
Belgium’s Gambling Commission (CJH) released its annual report for 2018, which showed a sharp rise in online gambling in the Kingdom for the 2017 financial year.
Casino gaming generated Gross Gambling Revenue of €251.3m in 2017, an increase of 19.6 per cent from 2016 due to the inclusion of online gaming which generated €147.2m while land-based casino generated a total €107.4m.
In 2016, land-based casinos generated more revenue than online games by more than €1m. 2017 was therefore the first to see online games achieve a better PBJ than land games. The increase in revenue for online gaming between 2016 to 2017 was up by 38 per cent.
Attendance at Belgian casinos was up 17.14 per cent, with a total of 1,364,505 admissions. Alongside this Belgium’s 175 slot halls and gaming rooms generated a total of €266.2m, an increase of 2.39 per cent over the previous year. The organizers of bets grouped under the F1 license (betting agency, bookmakers, bookseller and racetrack) generated €289.9.m, up 14.61 per cent, despite the absence of major events such as the football World Cup.
