The European Commission has announced that, after a thorough investigation, it found that Belgium didn’t give any unfair state aid to Ladbrokes for running virtual betting.
In September 2020, after getting a complaint from some companies in the gambling sector, the Commission launched a deeper investigation. They wanted to check whether the Belgian Gaming Commission had unfairly given Belgium-based Ladbrokes exclusive rights to run virtual betting, which could have gone against EU State aid rules.
The 🇪🇺 Commission finds Belgium 🇧🇪 did not grant State aid to Ladbrokes for operating virtual betting❎
For more information👇
🔗https://t.co/L5ylrIQsYe#EUStateAid pic.twitter.com/g1475t2LZB— EU Competition (@EU_Competition) April 11, 2025
At the time, virtual betting was still pretty new in the Belgian market. It’s a type of gambling that’s based on fictional sports events, where the outcomes are decided by random number generators.
Between 2012 and 2015, the Belgian Gaming Commission, the federal body that oversees the gambling sector, issued three “framework notes” explaining that it viewed virtual betting as a form of betting on (virtual) events. Based on that, they said it should only be offered through class IV gaming establishments, which are betting shops. They went on to authorize Ladbrokes, which is a subsidiary of the multinational Entain Holdings, to offer virtual betting through emails sent on February 10, 2014, and March 5, 2015.
However, in 2015 and 2016, the Gaming Commission denied other class IV operators the same right to offer virtual betting, saying they were still figuring out the proper regulatory approach. Even so, they didn’t suspend the original framework notes or withdraw Ladbrokes’ authorization until 2017.
Even after the suspension, Ladbrokes reportedly kept offering virtual betting until broader regulations were finally introduced in May 2018. The new regulation allowed all Class IV operators to legally offer virtual betting machines, leveling the playing field.
Ladbrokes does not qualify as state aid in Belgium
On Friday (Apr. 11), the commission stated that it had looked into the situation under EU State aid rules. It concluded that the informal email replies the Belgian Gaming Commission sent to Ladbrokes didn’t count as state aid.
In a statement, it said: “The Commission found that informal email replies sent by the Belgian Gaming Commission to Ladbrokes did not qualify as an act granting aid within the meaning of Article 107(1) TFEU.”
The commission also found that the Belgian State didn’t give up any money or resources it should have collected from Ladbrokes for running virtual betting. So, based on that, it found that the measure in question doesn’t count as State aid under EU rules.
ReadWrite has reached out to Ladbrokes for comment.
Featured image: Ladbrokes / Canva
