Strict oversight by the authorities

Belgian policy on lotteries and gaming consists, broadly speaking, of two areas: the profit sector, regulated by the Gaming Commission, and the non-profit sector, predominantly the National Lottery, regulated directly by the government.

The Gaming Commission is charged, in principle, with oversight of the gaming operators, which are private companies seeking to make profits. Their activities are not public service missions, unlike the activities of the National Lottery. The Gaming Commission comes under the authority of the Minister of Justice.

The National Lottery, on the other hand, comes under the direct supervision of the government (via the Finance Minister and the Budget Minister), who in turn are accountable to Parliament. The Finance Minister reports annually to Parliament about the operations of the National Lottery. All rules of games are approved by the Minister of Finances and laid down by Royal Decree. In this way, the Finance Minister decides whether new games can be offered, and subject to which conditions.

The National Lottery is also bound by the terms of the five-year management contract with the Belgian State, which is reviewed annually, when it comes to the day-to-day organisation of the games. The National Lottery has to submit a business plan each year to the Finance Minister.

The oversight by the Finance Minister is exercised via a government commissioner who has the right to attend all the meetings of the administrative organs of the National Lottery. Decisions with a budgetary or financial impact can also be overseen by the Budget Minister who also appoints a government commissioner.

In addition, oversight is exercised by a panel of auditors consisting of two company auditors and a representative of the Belgian Court of Auditors.

The management contract of 30 July 2010 also provides that international standards must be applied with regard to quality and security, as well as to ‘responsible gaming’. Compliance with those standards is supervised by external audit firms and by the Responsible Gaming Committee, which consists of both internal and external experts in the field of responsible gaming.

Last but not least, the National Lottery is bound by an ethical and responsible advertising code that is approved by the Advertising Council, a non-profit organisation, and the Jury for Ethical Practices in Advertising (JEP) oversees that it is properly implemented.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Gaming Commission has no powers to oversee the National Lottery with regard to lottery games, the Gaming Commission may oversee the National Lottery with regard to compliance with the Royal Decrees regulating the games of chance and competitions that the National Lottery offers.