Topics
Belgium’s Licensed Gambling Market
Legal gambling in Belgium runs through casinos, arcades, cafés, betting shops and websites, newsagents and racing associations, with online play only through supplementary licences. The Commission reports almost 500,000 active betting accounts online and 25 licensed sports betting websites.
Belgium’s Regional Gambling Tax
Belgium’s tax on games and bets is allocated to the region where the games take place. The Flemish Government states that the rate on online bets is 11% in all three regions, and on 17 July 2026 it asked the Consultation Committee for a simultaneous adjustment.
Belgium’s Player Protection and the EPIS Exclusion Register
Players must be 21. The Commission’s EPIS register has excluded players from casinos, arcades and betting since 2004. Online deposits are capped at EUR 200 a week per website, bonuses and credit-card payments are banned, and advertising is banned unless expressly allowed.
Belgium’s Enforcement Against Illegal Gambling
Operating without a licence, and knowingly playing on, advertising or recruiting for an unlicensed site, is an offence. The Commission blacklists unlicensed sites and asks internet providers to block them, and the Act sets criminal fines of EUR 26 to EUR 120,000 or EUR 72,000 before surcharges.
Ontario’s Regulated iGaming Market
Since 4 April 2022, Ontario has let private operators compete for players under AGCO registration and an iGaming Ontario operating agreement; the market reached $82.7 billion in wagers and $3.2 billion in gaming revenue in fiscal 2024-25.
Gambling Winnings Tax in Canada
The Canada Revenue Agency treats recreational gambling winnings as a non-taxable windfall; a narrower Income Tax Act provision on capital gains from lottery or pool-betting prizes is often cited more broadly than it actually reaches.
Provincial Gambling Models Outside Ontario
Outside Ontario, this record documents a government-monopoly model for online gambling — British Columbia’s PlayNow.com, also serving Manitoba under contract, is the clearest confirmed example — though not every province has been checked yet.
Sweden Gambling Tax (Spelskatt)
Licensed Swedish operators pay a monthly tax on net gaming revenue: 22% since 1 July 2024, up from 18% at the tax's 2019 introduction.
Player Protection: Spelpaus.se
Spelpaus.se lets players self-exclude from all licensed Swedish gambling for 10 days, 1, 3 or 6 months, or indefinitely; 134,484 people were registered at the end of 2025.
Action Against Illegal Gambling in Sweden
Spelinspektionen bans unlicensed operators, orders against promoting illegal gambling, and issues sanction fees; in 2025 its prohibition list named 70 operators.
Action Against Illegal Gambling in Germany
The GGL uses prohibition orders, network blocks, payment blocking and criminal complaints against unlicensed gambling; in 2024 it filed 23 criminal complaints and started 231 prohibition proceedings.
Germany Gambling Taxes
Sports betting, horse-race betting, virtual slot games and online poker are taxed at 5.3% of the stake net of tax, lotteries at 20%. Public budgets took in about EUR 2.48 billion in 2023.
Player Protection: LUGAS and OASIS
German online gambling combines a EUR 1,000 cross-provider deposit limit, the OASIS exclusion system and the LUGAS supervision system, with strict advertising rules.
CRUKS — Central Register for Exclusion of Games of Chance
CRUKS (Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen) is the Dutch central exclusion register that licensed operators must check before admitting a player.
Netherlands Gambling Tax (Kansspelbelasting)
The kansspelbelasting is levied on licensed operators' balance of stakes minus prizes. It has risen from 30.5% (2024) to 34.2% (2025) to 37.8% (2026).
Finland Gambling Licensing
From 1 July 2027 Finland licenses gambling through an exclusive licence (Veikkaus), gambling licences for the competitive market, and gambling software licences. Applications opened 1 March 2026 with the National Police Board; 50 had been received by 8 June 2026.
Finland Gambling Tax
Finland's lottery tax on gambling proceeds is currently 12%, with several temporary reductions since 2021. The Gambling Act reform raises it to a uniform 22% and changes how winnings from unlicensed gambling are taxed.
Player Protection in Finland
Finland requires identified gambling and an 18+ age limit today, and will add gambling-company deposit limits, a national self-exclusion register and behaviour-monitoring duties for licence holders once the Gambling Act applies from 1 July 2027.
Gambling Marketing Rules in Finland
Today only Veikkaus may market gambling in Mainland Finland, and the National Police Board actively polices affiliate and influencer marketing for foreign operators. From 1 July 2027, licensed companies get limited marketing rights subject to volume, content and social-media restrictions.
Enforcement Against Illegal Gambling in Finland
Finland uses payment-traffic blocks and criminal sanctions against unlicensed gambling operation and marketing today, and will gain a broader administrative sanctions toolkit — fines, licence withdrawal, content and domain removal — once the new Finnish Supervisory Agency takes over in 2027.