Belgium adds three sites to igaming blacklist

Belgian’s Gambling Commission has added three new sites to its blacklist of unlicensed online gambling websites.

Asperino, WildBlaster and Madnix were the latest additions to the list of almost 200 sites, though their additions have not yet been published in the Beglian Official Gazette. Previous additions to the list include William Hill, Bet365, Betfair and 1xBet.

The Commission reminded players that playing on any site that appears on the blacklist may be punished with a fine from €26 to €25,000, while operating an illegal gambling site carries a fine from €100 to €100,000.

“It is prohibited for anyone to operate gambling without a license previously granted by the Gambling Commission,” the regulator said. “It is also prohibited for anyone to participate in illegal gambling, to facilitate it or to advertise it.”

In related news, casinos and slot arcades in Belgium were permitted to reopen yesterday (1 July) after closures due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, as announced by Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès last month.

The Commission published a series of new measures for reopening, including requiring the cleaning and disinfecting of equipment, favouring contactless or electronic payments and “strongly recommending” mask usage. In addition, guests must be easily capable of maintaining a 1.5m distance from one another and venues may only be filled to 10% of their usual maximum occupancy.

In April, the Belgian Gambling Commission named Magali Clavie as its new president with immediate effect, succeeding Etienne Marique in the position