Belgium’s licensed iGaming market grew 5.4% in 2025 as first-time players fell 43.1%

Belgium’s regulated online gambling market kept expanding in 2025, but the pipeline of new players narrowed sharply. For PSPs and acquirers, that matters because growth is still there — just with more pressure on acquisition, player controls, and the gap between regulated and black-market play.

1. Kansspelcommissie (KSC), Belgium’s Gambling Authority, reported online gross gaming revenue (GGR) of €965m (£826m) for 2025, up 5.4% year-on-year. KSC said online gambling now accounts for 59% of the regulated market, keeping it the country’s main gambling channel.
2. Land-based gambling moved in the opposite direction, with revenue falling 7% to €656.09m. That split points to a market where online continues to take share, even as venue traffic weakens.
3. The sharper signal for operators is recruitment. In 2025, 110,032 people registered to gamble online for the first time, down 43.1% from 193,342 in 2024. KSC linked part of that decline to Belgium raising the minimum gambling age from 18 to 21, effective 1 September 2024; people aged 21–29 made up the largest newcomer group.
4. The report distinguishes first-time players from every new account opened with an operator, so the drop speaks to fewer people entering the licensed online market, not just weaker account creation. Even so, average daily active online players rose 3% to 160,144, and 528,706 unique individuals gambled online at least once during the year.
5. On the retail side, average daily visits to physical gambling venues fell 24.5% to 27,532. Within that segment, casinos increased GGR by 5.85% to €152.29m, gaming arcades declined 4.17%, and cafés saw the biggest drop, with bingo and other gambling product revenue down 17.77% to €196.01m.

Belgium also tightened player screening. Voluntary exclusions through the Excluded Persons Information System (EPIS) reached 66,998 at the end of 2025, up from 56,458 a year earlier, while operators filed 16,358 voluntary exclusion applications during the year, almost 76% via the digital identification service. Since 1 May 2025, operators have had to check every player against EPIS before granting access, and the report logged 715,373 blocked physical and online visits during 2025.