The Belgian Gaming Commission has brought its first charges of illegal gambling against players gambling illegally in a bar and reports indicate the BGC may extend their reach to online poker players, according to Pokerfuse.com.
The Belgian Gaming Act criminalized the act of playing on a site not licensed in Belgium. Players can be fined up to €150k, and face jail sentences of up to three years.
So far, there have been no prosecutions of online players, but the websites cites reports that the commission may start such investigations.
The commission has increased the number of inspectors it employs from seven to 15 and “reportedly announced that it would extend its actions to online players as well.”
BGC spokeswoman Marjolein De Paepe explained that online players have been given “time to adapt” to the Belgian online gambling laws that were amended in 2010 to ensure proper licensing of sites.
“We expect that after four years of they should know what is legal and what is not. Therefore, we will also tackle them,” she said.
Licensed online poker operators in Belgium include PokerStars, bwin, Partouche, Unibet, GoldenPalace.BE and Win2Day.
