A major deal with a sports betting company has been announced by one of Belgium's leading coin machine companies.
General Automatic Amusement (GAA) of Brussels has signed a contract with Austria’s Cashpoint to open a string of sports betting shops across Belgium.
The first will be opened at Mouscron at the end of this month. Renato Bazzarini, general manager at GAA, said: “At first the shops will have betting through a cashier only. It is not yet clear whether terminals are going to be permitted. That will be clarified by regulations which may go through as early as June this year.
“There is to be a general election in the summer, and it is expected that the revision of the law to take account of sports betting shops and terminals will go through at the end of the session immediately prior to the election, or as one of the first acts of the new Parliament after it reconvenes.”
As the GAA/Cashpoint deal was being announced, one of the other major suppliers to the Belgian industry called for a clarification of the legislation governing gaming to include sports betting.
Urbain Thewissen, general manager at Seeben of Liège, commented that the 1999 legislation made no provision for the opening of sports betting shops, nor of the use of coin-operated terminals either inside the shops or in arcades.
“I have no problem with sports betting by itself,” he said, “but it is not specifically covered by the wording of the regulations and the situation needs to be clarified. The rest of the gambling industry in Belgium is carefully regulated, but that sector is not; it needs to be brought into line.”
He added: “The law in Belgium is there for the protection of the player, but in the sports betting sector there is no protection. It should therefore be subject to the same regulations as everyone else.”
