Bruges Commercial Court’s Ruling Held Advertising For Games of Chance Is Legal Under Belgian Law
On March 4th, 2010, the Bruges Commercial Court delivered a ruling (not yet made available publicly) in Belgian State v. Club Brugge, Unibet and the Belgian Football Association whereby it held that advertising for games of chance is legal under Belgian law on the grounds of a narrow interpretation of the Belgian Gaming Legislation. Our understanding is that the Belgian Gaming Legislation’s narrow construction by the ruling is consistent with sound principles under Belgian law, under the reasoning mentioned below.
The Bruges Commercial Court held that:
- advertising for games of chance cannot be considered as exploitation of such games nor of a gaming establishment within the meaning of Article 4 of the Belgian Gaming Law;
- the Belgian Gaming Commission’s report has probative value until proof of the contrary, but only as regards the mere factual findings, and not as regards the interpretation of those facts or the case law cited in the report ;
- since Unibet also offers sports betting services, which do not fall within the scope of application of the current Belgian Gaming Legislation, the mere placing of advertising boards with the UNIBET logo (no more and no less) is not an infringement of Article 64, § 2 of the Gaming Law, which provides for sanctions against advertising for prohibited gaming establishments;
- the link on Club Brugge’s website can be considered to be at least indirect advertising for games of chance, but the Gaming Law only prohibits advertising for a gaming establishment; thus, the advertisement is not caught by the aforementioned prohibition;
- Unibet is not a (national or foreign) gaming establishment within the meaning of the Gaming Law since it only offers games of chance via the Internet and not in a gaming establishment within the meaning of Article 2, 3° of the Gaming Law (building or a place wherein one or more games of chance are exploited).
