2023-10-02 04:30:00
Justice Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne’s bill was approved by the Council of Ministers on Friday. As a result, gambling operators will in future have to equip booksellers’ slot machines with a control system using the electronic identity card.
The number of bookstores offering games of chance remains high in our country: there are 1,580. In order to combat gambling addiction, Belgium has an EPIS list, listing people who have been excluded from gambling. by chance, in a professional capacity (for magistrates for example), due to a collective settlement of debts, by a court decision or on their own initiative.
Currently, 47,586 players have been excluded voluntarily, 888 by a third party, 646 by an administrator, 67,959 due to collective debt settlement, 4,993 due to a court decision and 57,937 due to the nature of their professional activity.
The need for this list, Mr. Van Quickenborne notes, is confirmed by the fact that last year 276,000 attempts were recorded to enter casinos and gaming halls or to gamble online despite being on the EPIS list .
But there remained a gap in bookstores. With the bill, slot machines in bookstores must be equipped with a device in which the identity card is inserted and which is linked to the EPIS list. This will not only exclude people on this list, but also automatically exclude minors. A transition period of 24 months is planned to allow gambling operators to adapt their slot machines.
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