Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie / Commission des jeux de hasard)
Belgium’s independent gambling regulator, with a transfer to the FPS Economy under way
Last verified: 2026-10-06
The Gaming Commission was created by the Gambling Act of 7 May 1999. It grants every gambling licence, runs the EPIS exclusion register, keeps the blacklist of illegal sites and can impose warnings, suspensions, revocations and administrative fines. A magistrate chairs it and representatives of six ministers sit on it.
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Overview
The Gaming Commission is Belgium’s official gambling regulator. The Gambling Act of 7 May 1999 created it, and its main task is to channel players to legal gambling with the primary aim of protecting them. It advises Government and Parliament, grants the licences needed to operate games of chance and betting, and monitors compliance. It carries out its missions independently.
A magistrate chairs the Commission, Magali Clavie since 2020, and it includes one Dutch-speaking and one French-speaking representative of each of six ministers: Justice, Finance, Economy, Home Affairs, Public Health and the minister responsible for the National Lottery. Its secretariat, run by a director, manages licences and carries out inspections. The licence holders pay the Commission’s costs.
On sanctions the Act gives the Commission a defined procedure: warnings, suspension or withdrawal of a licence, bans on operating games, and administrative fines after the person has had 30 days to submit a defence, with appeal to the court of first instance. The Commission also manages EPIS, the register of excluded players, and keeps the list of unlicensed sites passed to internet providers for blocking. The Council of Ministers has approved the steps for transferring gambling competence and the Commission from the Minister of Justice to the Minister of Economy and the FPS Economy; the implementing royal decree was approved in second reading on 25 September 2026, and the sources read do not confirm that the transfer is complete.
The Commission’s own description of its status, tasks and composition. [1]
Articles 10 and 15 to 21 of the Act (composition, sanctions procedure, tasks). [2]
Council of Ministers communiqué of 18 September 2026 on the 2026 contributions and the competence transfer. [3]
Verification status of this record
This record is at the source-review stage. Every claim in it is marked Verified: each rests on a primary source, namely the Gaming Commission’s own pages, the Gambling Act as coordinated on the Commission’s website, the Official Gazette, the Federal Government’s Council of Ministers communiqués or the Flemish Government and Parliament. Article-level provisions follow the Commission’s unofficially coordinated text of the Act. The provisions changed by the Law of 7 May 2024 (the fine ranges in articles 63 to 65, article 4 §§4-5, article 8/1, articles 54/1, 55 and 55/2 and the blacklist in article 43/8 §4) were cross-checked against that law as published in the Official Gazette of 22 May 2024, read through the etaamb.openjustice.be copy of the Gazette. The official consolidated text on ejustice.just.fgov.be could not be retrieved. Several Commission and government pages were read through search excerpts because the sites block automated retrieval. Market statistics from the Commission’s 2025 Annual Report are not included, because the report itself could not be read; they will be added once verified against it.
Key facts
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The Gaming Commission was established by the Gambling Act of 7 May 1999 as Belgium’s official gambling regulator and exercises its missions in full independence (article 10 §6); its main task is to ensure channelling to legal gambling, with the primary aim of protecting players.
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
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The Commission consists of a chair, twelve permanent members and twelve substitutes (at most two thirds of the same gender), and the head of the secretariat attends with an advisory vote; apart from the chair it holds one Dutch-speaking and one French-speaking representative of each of the ministers of Justice, Finance, Economic Affairs, Home Affairs, Public Health and the minister responsible for the National Lottery.
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
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The chair is a full-time magistrate appointed by the King on the proposal of the Ministers of Economy and Justice, and the chair and members serve six-year terms renewable once; Magali Clavie has chaired the Commission since 2020.
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
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The Commission advises the Minister of Economy or Parliament on request, monitors the application of the Act and its implementing decrees, receives complaints under conditions it sets (article 20), decides on licence applications by reasoned decision (article 21), and is the data controller of EPIS (article 55).
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Belgian Official Gazette (copy on etaamb.openjustice.be)
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Sanctions follow a set procedure: the Commission can warn, suspend or withdraw a licence for a time and impose a provisional or definitive ban on operating games (article 15/2); it imposes an administrative fine equal to the criminal fine range plus surcharges (article 15/3), after giving the person 30 days to submit a defence (article 15/4) and deciding within two months (article 15/6); an appeal lies within one month to the court of first instance, with full jurisdiction and suspensive effect (article 15/7), and fines go to the Treasury (article 15/8).
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The Commission can decide that a player’s whole stake goes to the player when the operator did not check age or let in a player under the minimum age (article 15/3 §7), and the administrative fine cannot be imposed more than five years after the offence (article 15/3 §5).
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Secretariat staff designated by the King have the status of judicial police officers with powers to enter premises and IT systems used to operate games, question people, demand documents and seize evidence, and the Commission may second up to four police officers as liaison officers (article 15).
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The costs of the Commission and its secretariat are borne entirely by licence holders (article 19); the Council of Ministers approved on 24 April 2026, and again on 18 September 2026, a bill to ratify the Royal Decree of 11 March 2026 setting the 2026 contribution of holders of class A, A+, B, B+, C, E, F1, F1+ and F2 licences.
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Federal Government of Belgium (news.belgium.be)
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The Commission’s secretariat provides legal advice on gambling policy, manages licences, carries out inspections and imposes penalties; it is run by a director, Steve Mees, who sits on the Commission.
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The Commission must report on its activities every year to Parliament and the ministers concerned (article 16); its website announced a new Annual Report on 16 September 2026 and a Financial Report on 31 March 2026.
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
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The transfer of the Commission and gambling competence to the FPS Economy is in progress: the Council of Ministers approved a preliminary draft law on 17 October 2025 and, in second reading, on 19 December 2025, approved a draft royal decree adapting other royal decrees on 30 April 2026 (submitted to the Council of State) and in second reading on 25 September 2026, and a communiqué of 18 September 2026 refers to the transfer of gambling competence from the Minister of Justice to the Minister of Economy.
Federal Government of Belgium (news.belgium.be), Federal Government of Belgium (news.belgium.be), Federal Government of Belgium (news.belgium.be), Federal Government of Belgium (news.belgium.be), Federal Government of Belgium (news.belgium.be)
Sources
- Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)Primary source — Gaming Commission (about the Commission) — https://www.gamingcommission.be/en/gaming-commission
- Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)Primary source — Kansspelwet 7 mei 1999 (unofficially coordinated text, Dutch) — https://www.gamingcommission.be/nl/wetgeving/kansspelwet-7-mei-1999
- Federal Government of Belgium (news.belgium.be)Primary source — Bijdrage door de houders van vergunningen van de Kansspelcommissie voor 2026 — https://news.belgium.be/nl/bijdrage-door-de-houders-van-vergunningen-van-de-kansspelcommissie-voor-2026