Belgium Betting Sites and Bookmakers

Sports betting is a very popular pastime amongst Belgians who wagered close to €300 million on sports in 2012. Betting in Belgium is a pretty popular activity. This represented approximately 30% of all gambling revenues, so betting sites also generate a lot of income for the government.

This amount of sports betting companies Belgium revenue is significantly smaller than in other European countries, but Belgian bookies are doing their best. This country also has a significantly smaller population than many other European countries.

And, when you compare it with the population, you will see that online betting Belgium is really big and popular. The majority of Belgians are interested in playing at sports betting sites. Belgium is also one of the most regulated markets in the world besides UK bookmakers and Sweden betting sites, which makes Belgian sportsbooks some of safest.

Top 10 Betting Sites for Belgium in 21 November 2024 – Updated List

Until 1999, “gray rules” were in effect for Belgium gambling. There was no law regulating land-based and online gambling in the country, and online gambling was not quite common in those years. Belgian players were betting using physical bookmakers instead of betting sites, and a few casinos in the country were operating with a permit from the Ministry of Tourism.

In 1999, the Gambling Act came into effect. This law only regulated land-based gambling until 2011. By law, gambling and sports betting Belgium were now legal, but they had to obtain a license from the Gaming Commission. In 2011, the law was updated, and started to cover Belgium betting sites and online casinos too. In other words, online casinos and Belgian betting sites were also legalized.

Despite this, there are not many betting sites available in Belgium, as the law is quite strict. In fact, if we had prepared a list of gambling sites by country, Belgium would rank quite low. If you want to see the official list of betting sites in Belgium, you can check these PDF files: There are a little more than a dozen brands. Below we provide more detailed information about Belgium gambling sites and law.

Let’s start with the “is online sports betting legal in Belgium” question. Online sports wagering is legal in Belgium and hundreds of millions of Euros are spent on Belgium betting every year. The legal age for betting in Belgium is 21. Belgian land-based casinos and online betting Belgium sites are very strict with this.

Websites must go to great lengths to verify the age and identity of their customers before starting to accept Belgium best bets. Having the legal age set at 21 as opposed to 18 or 19 is intended to curb problem gambling.

At the moment, there are three laws for gambling in Belgium. These are:

• Gambling Act of 1999 (regulates land-based casinos, online casinos, and betting sites Belgium)
• Lotteries Act of 1851 (yes, it is that old)
• National Lottery Act of 2002

All forms of gambling require getting a license from the Gaming Commission. This includes online casinos and bookmakers Belgium too. The commission is a part of the Ministry of Justice. The web addresses of all online gambling sites licensed by this commission ends with “.be”. The Gambling Commission is quite strict, and the tax rates are pretty high. To give you an idea, the tax rate for land-based gambling operations can be as high as 44% of the gross gaming revenue. This is lower for online gambling operators (around 11%) but the King himself keeps “updating” these rates pretty frequently.

The Gambling Commission works with ISPs on the country and blocks access to all bookmakers by country that are not licensed by itself. However, playing at such sites is not a crime and financial transfers to and from these sites are not restricted. That’s also why Belgium top betting sites are not located in the country: The majority of players prefer to play at international operators. In this regard, we can say that the current regulations are similar to Netherlands gambling sites and law. If you want to play at the best live betting sites and bookmakers (and best sports betting exchanges), we recommend choosing international operators too. You can see a list of best betting sites Belgium above.

Belgium is a nation that loves a wide array of sports, so the list of the most popular sports in Belgium is quite long. Cycling, field hockey, and aquatic sports are quite popular as are tennis, golf, and basketball. Many residents closely follow ice hockey and there is even some interest in major North American sports like baseball and American football – Belgium football betting is pretty popular and lots of bookies offer Belgium football best bets. It is also the most popular sport in arbitrage friendly bookmakers.

Note that Belgium football betting covers both the soccer and American football, and perhaps the most widely followed sport is soccer. Matches in Belgium are attended by thousands of attendees who faithfully cheer on their favorite team.

Of course, many of those are also undoubtedly wagering on those games too – betting Belgium is a popular activity, as we mentioned above. Belgian sportsbooks offer an extensive range of soccer betting option for punters.

We can say that Belgian players are quite traditional compared to other European countries. Lotteries and scratch cards are still the most popular types of gambling in the country. It is also possible to see this traditional approach in betting types. Simple money line bets on who will win are the most popular option on Belgian betting sites. Football bets come first in this regard just as in Spain betting sites and football is also preferred for accumulator bets. The younger generation of players, on the other hand, are interested in more daring and exotic bet types. Their favorite option is handicap betting. They are particularly interested in the Asian variant. In this context, the most popular types of bets on the most Belgium betting sites are:

• Moneyline bets
• Accumulator (football accumulator) bets
• Asian handicap
• Point spread

That list of Belgium betting sites will help you to make a safe and fast start. We already checked all Belgian betting sites and picked the best ones for you. The rest is up to you. You can create your account right now and start your gambling journey at the best betting sites in Belgium or even France bookmakers and we wish you good luck. Don’t forget to visit us often to see our new recommended betting sites Belgium!