Belgium gambling revenue rises to €965m as first-time player numbers fall 43.1% after minimum age increase

Belgium’s gambling market kept growing in 2025, but the player mix changed fast: online licensed operators generated €965m, while first-time player numbers dropped 43.1% after the minimum legal gambling age was raised to 21. For PSPs and operators, the important bit is not just revenue growth, but the stronger verification burden and the risk that more traffic drifts to unregulated sites.

1. The Belgian gambling regulator, Kansspelcommissie, reported that online gambling revenue from licensed operators reached €965m in 2025, which represented 59 per cent of the regulated market. In other words, the online channel remains the center of gravity, even as the market keeps moving under tighter controls.
2. The same report said the number of first-time players fell by 43.1 per cent, with the increase in the minimum legal gambling age to 21 listed as a possible reason. Existing player engagement, however, stayed strong, so this looks more like a funnel-shape change than a wholesale drop in activity.
3. Land-based participation declined overall: casino revenue increased, while gaming arcade revenue fell. For payment providers, that split matters because it shows the pressure is not uniform across channels, and the money is increasingly concentrated where onboarding and identity checks are easier to enforce.
4. Self-exclusion requests rose to 66,998 in 2025. Operators were also required to verify customers against the Excluded Persons Information System, which raises the compliance bar for onboarding, recurring checks, and any PSP handling account opening or transaction routing.
5. The trade association BAGO warned about migration to unregulated sites and called for stronger consumer protection measures. That is the usual industry friction point: every extra control in the licensed market improves oversight, but it can also push some demand toward operators and payment flows outside the perimeter.

The UK was also cited as a regulatory benchmark in this week’s roundup. Its 2024 gambling reforms introduced financial vulnerability checks, maximum stakes for online slots, restrictions on game features, and real-time monitoring of gambling activity, with the UK Gambling Commission set to assess the impact in 2026. For PSPs serving multiple regulated markets, the message is pretty clear: Belgium is tightening the same screws on verification and player protection, just with its own local version of the playbook.