Belgium can now impose IP blocking manoeuvres against the black market thanks to new powers obtained by the regulator, Kansspelcommissie.
A new partnership that came into effect this week was brokered between the gambling authority and the official domain registry DNS Belgium, which oversees the .be, .vlaanderen and .brussels domains.
Kansspelcommissie agents will now be able to flag down any website they deem illegal and report it to DNS Belgium, which will be notified immediately.
After the notification is received, the domain supervisor will inform the domain name holder that their website goes against DNS Belgium policies and constitutes an infringement where Belgian citizens are illicitly targeted.
If the domain owner does not voluntarily comply with the warnings sent out by DNS Belgium, the registry will then take matters into its own hands, confiscating the website licence permission.
The landing page will then be modified to redirect to a Kansspelcommissie warning page displayed in French and Dutch, barring access to it and informing visitors that the content on it is illegal.
“The Gaming Commission and DNS Belgium have signed a cooperation agreement. This cooperation will make it easier to detect illegal gambling sites that use websites with a ‘.be’ domain. We would like to thank our partners at DNS Belgium for this cooperation,” stated the regulator.
Blocking the black market
IP blocking powers are an important asset in the toolbox of regulators when it comes to pushing back against the black market. This practice is often seen across the globe, from Australia with the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) to Africa and Kenya to name a few examples.
It is also especially common in Europe, with regulators of member countries frequently sharing best practices to build policies around IP blocking – such is the case with Bulgaria’s NRA regulator, Romania with the ONJN, France and the ANJ, and the UK through the UKGC.
One outlier, however, is Germany, where the regulator GGL still lacks the powers to issue blocking orders for domestic and foreign IP addresses. As of now, this is mainly done through expansive market analysis efforts between the authority, licensed operators and major tech companies like Google – with a direct communication line between GGL and DENIC, Germany’s domain registry, still non-existent.
This is largely due to the complex regulatory environment of the German GlüStV 2021 gambling regime, with policies needing unanimous agreement between the 16 states to become federal law.
However, the framework is currently being evaluated, scheduled to conclude by the end of 2026, and experts believe that IP blocking powers will finally land in GGL’s arsenal sometime around the second half of next year.