Belgium Player Protection: EPIS, Age 21, Deposit Limit, Bonus Ban

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 player protection and EPIS

Overview

The Commission describes the protection of players as the common thread of all its missions. The minimum age is 21 for all gambling, online included. EPIS, the Excluded Persons Information System, has been managed by the Commission since 2004; players can place themselves in it, an interested third party can request an exclusion, courts can order one, and some professions are refused access to casinos and arcades. An exclusion blocks casinos, gaming arcades and betting, online and offline. EPIS checks reached physical betting shops on 1 October 2022 and betting machines in newsagents on 1 May 2026.

A voluntary exclusion can be requested online through itsme or a card reader or on paper, and can be lifted at any time, but access only returns after a waiting period of three months. Online, deposits are capped at EUR 200 per week per website, bonuses are banned (article 60), credit cards cannot be used for online games (article 58) and advertising is banned unless the King expressly allows it (article 61). Operators must identify every player, and the Commission can decide that the whole stake goes to a player whose age was not checked. Help: SOS Gambling 0800 35 777, www.gokhulp.be and www.stopoptijd.be.

Player-protection rules at a glance

Belgian Player-Protection Rules at a Glance (current)
Rule	What applies	Legal basis or source	In force since	Verified against primary source
Minimum age	21 for all gambling, including online	Article 54 §1; Commission access-ban page	1 September 2024 (Act of 18 February 2024)	✓
Online deposit limit	EUR 200 per week per website (money paid in, not bets); lifting only for persons not registered as defaulters	Commission FAQ on the weekly limit	Not stated	✓
Bonuses	Banned: free participation, gaming credit and any advantage to influence, recruit or retain players	Article 60	Strengthened by the Act of 18 February 2024 (in force 1 September 2024)	✓
Advertising	Banned unless the King expressly allows it; brand name or logo counts as advertising	Article 61; Royal Decree of 27 February 2023	Current article 61 in force 1 September 2024	✓
Credit cards	Payment by credit card banned for games via information-society instruments	Article 58	Not stated	✓
Excluded persons register (EPIS)	Excluded players are blocked at casinos, arcades and betting, online and offline	Articles 54-55; Commission access-ban page	Managed by the Commission since 2004	✓
Voluntary exclusion lifting	Can be requested at any time; access returns after a 3-month waiting period	Commission voluntary-request page	Not stated	✓
Operator identity and age checks	Operators must identify everyone and refuse when identity is in doubt; stake can be awarded to a player whose age was not checked	Articles 54/1 and 15/3 §7	Not stated	✓

The Commission’s access-ban page (age 21, EPIS). [1]

The Commission’s voluntary-request page. [2]

The Commission’s FAQ on the weekly limit. [3]

The Act’s player-protection chapter (articles 54 to 61). [4]

Frequently asked questions

How do I exclude myself from gambling in Belgium?

Ask the Gaming Commission. Residents can apply online through itsme or a card reader; otherwise use the signed paper form with a copy of both sides of the identity card. You can name a trusted person, who will be informed of the request and of any later lifting request.

Can I lift my exclusion?

Yes, at any time by written request with a copy of your identity card, but access to casinos, arcades and betting, online and offline, returns only after a waiting period of three months from the day the Commission receives the request.

Is there a limit on online deposits?

Yes: EUR 200 per week and per website, on money paid into the account rather than on bets. You can ask the operator for a lower limit.

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

Verified
The minimum age for all gambling in Belgium, including online, is 21: article 54 §1 bans under-21s from the gaming rooms of class I, II and IV establishments, from playing in class III premises, from bets accepted outside class IV establishments and from gambling through information-society instruments, and the Commission says you can only take part in games of chance or betting from 21.

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Verified
The Commission has managed EPIS, an electronic system that lists all excluded players, since 2004; EPIS checks apply when entering a casino or slot machine arcade, for online play and betting, and from 1 October 2022 in physical betting shops.

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Verified
From 1 May 2026 the EPIS provisions apply in daily newspaper shops: betting machines there must have a certified computer system that verifies the player’s age (21 or older) and authenticates the player in EPIS, and machines without one may no longer be operated.

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Belgian Official Gazette (copy on etaamb.openjustice.be), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Verified
Players can be placed in EPIS at their own request, at the request of an interested third party such as a partner, by court decision (for example persons whose request for collective debt settlement was declared admissible), and some professions such as magistrates, notaries, bailiffs and police officers are refused access to casinos and arcades, while a provisional administrator can ask to maintain a preventive ban.

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Verified
A voluntary exclusion blocks access to casinos, gaming arcades and betting, online and offline; residents can apply online through itsme or a card reader or on a signed paper form with a copy of both sides of the identity card, a trusted person can optionally be designated and will be informed of the request and of any later lifting request, and lifting can be requested at any time but access returns only after a waiting period of three months from the day the Commission receives the request.

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Verified
Online, a player may pay at most EUR 200 per week into each website’s gaming account, a limit on deposits and not on bets; a lower personal limit can always be requested, only persons not registered as defaulters with the National Bank’s Central Individual Credit Office can ask to lift the limit, and the Commission recommends spending no more than 5% of income on gambling.

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Federal Government of Belgium (news.belgium.be)
Verified
Operators may not offer bonuses: article 60 forbids free participation in games, gaming credit and any advantage offered to influence players or to recruit or retain them, which the Commission recalled on 20 May 2026 ahead of the World Cup, and credit cards are banned as a means of payment for online games (article 58).

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Verified
Advertising for games of chance is banned unless the King expressly allows it (article 61); the Royal Decree of 27 February 2023 sets the permitted forms and, according to the Commission, from 1 January 2025 sports sponsorship may no longer appear on the front of sportswear and may not exceed 75 cm².

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Verified
Licence holders A, A+, B, B+, F1+ and F2 must identify everyone who enters or wishes to play, check the identity document against the person and refuse participation if the identity is in doubt (article 54/1); accepted documents include the Belgian electronic identity card, with a passport or equivalent travel document accepted only if electronic identification is technically impossible; and the Commission can decide that the whole stake belongs to a player whose age the operator did not check (article 15/3 §7).

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Belgian Official Gazette (copy on etaamb.openjustice.be)
Verified
EPIS data are limited to the chair, the seconded police officers and designated secretariat members; for each excluded person it holds name, date of birth, national register number or other identification number and the reason, start and end of the exclusion, kept for five years after the exclusion ends, and every EPIS consultation is logged and kept for five years (articles 55 and 55/2).

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Belgian Official Gazette (copy on etaamb.openjustice.be)
Verified
Help is available through SOS Gambling on 0800 35 777 and www.gokhulp.be, both shown on the Commission’s pages, and the Commission’s www.stopoptijd.be site gathers information on legal sites, responsible gambling, the risks of illegal websites, exclusion options and support services; article 61 requires leaflets on gambling addiction with the 0800 helpline to be available to players, in electronic form for online licence holders.

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)
Verified
Disputes between a consumer and an operator over games of chance can go to the Consumer Mediation Service (Consumentenombudsdienst), which handles out-of-court settlement requests and passes the request to the Commission where a breach of the Act is alleged (article 8/1).

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie), Belgian Official Gazette (copy on etaamb.openjustice.be)

Sources

Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)Primary source — Access ban — https://www.gamingcommission.be/en/protection-of-players/access-ban
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)Primary source — Voluntary request (access ban) — https://www.gamingcommission.be/en/protection-of-players/access-ban/voluntary-request
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)Primary source — What is the gambling limit per week for online gambling? — https://www.gamingcommission.be/en/faq/online-gambling/what-is-the-gambling-limit-per-week-for-online-gambling
Gaming Commission (Kansspelcommissie)Primary source — Kansspelwet 7 mei 1999 (unofficially coordinated text, Dutch) — https://www.gamingcommission.be/nl/wetgeving/kansspelwet-7-mei-1999

Belgium’s Player Protection and the EPIS Exclusion Register