The Gaming Commission of Belgium has published its 2023 annual report. The data from the report reveals that in 2023 the number of unique players increased, but the number of new players decreased.
The average number of online players increased from 634.845 in 2023 to 614.332. There was also a decline in the number of new players at online casinos, which dropped from 197.705 to 168.113. The number of daily active unique players increased from 141.225 to 154.316 players.
Regarding the land-based offer, there was a clear increase in the number of daily visits. These figures are divided into three different periods, due to regulations surrounding the introduction of an EPIS check at physical bookmakers. In the first eighteen days of 2023, when the Royal Decree on this EPIS check was still in force, there were an average of 14.972 registered visits per day. The decision was subsequently suspended until December 1, 2023, with 14.773 visits per day during that period. In the last month of the year there were even 17.046 per day.
Magali Clavie, president of the Commission, comments on the figures as follows:
“The data in this report shows that players have returned to physical points, which were abandoned after the start of the Covid crisis. Their number also continues to increase online (there are an average of 154.000 players every day), although it can be noted that the growth of online gambling seems to be slowly reaching a plateau or even starting to decline slightly. The number of repeat players decreased in 2023, as did the number of new players. This stagnation was already noted in our recent financial report for the year 2022. This is a trend we will have to keep an eye on in the future.”
After the preface by the president and Steve Mees, director of the Commission, the report also contains data on player protection. Over the past year, 5.936 people voluntarily chose to register with EPIS, the self-exclusion register. Since 2004, the year in which the EPIS came into force, a total of 49.698 voluntary exclusions have been carried out. The vast majority of voluntary EPIS registrations come from the 30-39 and 40-49 age groups. The annual report shows that it is mainly men (33.626) who exclude themselves from gambling. Added to these are a group of women (10.877) and a group whose sex is unknown (5.195). Over the past year there have also been 153 requests from third parties to exclude someone, of which 113 were ultimately granted.
