PRESS RELEASE

Sports betting shops win in court against the Belgian State.

The Court of First Instance of Namur, in fast-track proceedings, has ruled in favour of the sports betting shops that challenged the obligation to control and register the identity of their customers imposed by the Federal Government in the context of the extension of the EPIS (Excluded Persons Information System) system as of October 1, 2022.

A clear victory to make the Minister of Justice aware of the numerous violations of European dispositions, including the GDPR.

A system that violates privacy and does not protect players.

In concrete terms, since October 1, each person entering a betting shop had to systematically present his or her identity card and leave a copy of it, declare his or her profession, be photographed and sign a digital register compiling all this information for a period of 10 years from the last visit to the shop. This data, which was supposedly collected for the sole purpose of protecting players, could nevertheless be used for other purposes, particularly in the context of legal investigations.

This new regulation, in addition to imposing the implementation of an extremely burdensome digital system has proven to be particularly invasive of the privacy of players, who rightly perceive such treatment as vexatious.

Given the fact that, despite numerous interpellations and while the Minister of Justice recognized the flaws of the new regulation, the Justice persisted in turning a deaf ear, UPAP had no choice but to support its members who were prejudiced by the regulation. Together with more than two hundred betting shops, UPAP decided to file an urgent legal action in order to put an end to these violations of Belgian constitutional law and European law as soon as possible.

In its decision, the Court of First Instance of Namur found prima facie that the regulation extending the EPIS system to betting shops violated the GDPR in several respects, in particular by requiring the collection of unnecessary data, by increasing the risk of data leakage and by allowing the use of such data for criminal investigations, without any link to the protection of players. The court also sanctioned the violation of the principle of equality and non-discrimination since the newsagents offering sports betting and the National Lottery products were not subject to the same treatment without this difference being justified. The court therefore ordered that the application of the regulation be set aside for UPAP and the 202 other shops involved in the case, which implies the cessation of the controls.

The need to resume a dialogue to protect the player

UPAP is pleased to note this particularly well-reasoned court decision and emphasizes the rigor and quality of the Court's examination, which fully grasped the extent of the violations committed by the Belgian State.

The betting and gaming professionals are at the disposal of the parlement and the federal government and call for the rapid organization of discussions that are essential for the establishment of an effective legal framework in the fight against gambling addiction. They reiterate their concern to ensure the protection of players' privacy, taking into account the reality of the sector, that of the National Lottery, but also the risk that players turn to illegal online gambling sites.

They reiterate their willingness, until now little listened, to concretize as soon as possible this dialogue, a sine qua non condition for the implementation of a system that will strengthen the protection of players, without ignoring their rights to the protection of their personal data and privacy.

For more information, please contact :

Yannik BELLEFROID +32495 58 96 68, yannik.bellefroid@upap-bvwk.be ​
​Tom STAMMELEER, +32 477 20 05 99, tom.stammeleer@upap-bvwk.be