Kindred discusses Belgium’s gambling advertising shutdown

Earlier this month, the Belgian government rubber stamped a raft of new restrictions on the advertising of gambling by Belgian operators aimed at reducing the excessive advertising by operators as well as a full ban on ads during sporting events.

Effectively closing its doors to marketing of egaming services, these measures could have a significant impact on the Belgian market. On the front line of this are the operators themselves, Unibet country manager Dennis Mariën discusses the consequences:

EGR Compliance: How will the new advertising affect your operations in Belgium?

Dennis Mariën (DM): It is of course not a positive development for the industry, but we accept the situation and will work closely with key stakeholders to understand what can be done from the industry’s side to prevent further restrictions. For us the most important thing is that the same rules apply to all operators and there is a clear level playing field to avoid confusion among customers. It’s also worth pointing out that Kindred’s focus in marketing communication in Belgium has always been on sports betting as that is obviously embedded in the company’s and the Unibet brand’s DNA. The limitations will most probably have a stronger effect on more casino-oriented operators within the market.

EGR Compliance: How will the new bonus regulations affect your operations in Belgium?

DM: If the regulated offer will no longer be competitive compared to the offshore operators, the high level of channelisation achieved by the current legal situation towards the regulated offering might be in jeopardy as it has been proven that there are practically no boundaries in the online world for customers to reach offshore platforms if desired.

At Kindred we have always strived for full transparency with our customers in our promotions and have mainly built our market position on high levels of brand awareness. Bonus communication has never been at the heart of our acquisition strategy. In August we launched a campaign to further make our customers aware of the importance of playing responsibly showing them the tools we proactively offer them to ensure they keep their playing behaviour under control.

EGR Compliance: Do you think that the Belgian government has gone overboard in trying to protect gamblers?

DM: Protecting our customers is our primary objective and we fully agree with the government’s objective to protect Belgian consumers and we are in favour of clear rules and regulations which apply to all operators and provide a level playing field in the industry. However, enforcing a set of rules that might be too strict for regulated operators to keep a competitive offering vs the non-regulated ones is a possible danger towards the customers as the non-regulated operators are in no way obliged to offer similar levels of security towards their customers.

Kindred, as a member of BAGO (Belgian Association of Gambling Operators), already launched an advertising code of conduct to support ethical and responsible gambling advertising back in 2016. And during this year’s World Cup, we together with the other BAGO members refrained from any TV commercials 15min before, during and 15min after all the matches of the Belgian Red Devils and launched a national responsible gambling campaign to inform Belgian customers about the tools to stay in control. The new royal decree very much reflects these prior initiatives and we welcome the clarifications it provides.

As the first operator in Belgium, Kindred launched its own national responsible gambling campaign in August and October 2018. The campaign is focused on informing customers about the potential risks of online gambling and informing them about the control tools Kindred offers to all its customers. These campaigns should in our view still be allowed as they’re in the clear interest of the customer.

EGR Compliance: What dialogue has Unibet had with the regulator in this area?

DM: The regulator has been supportive of the previous initiatives (code of conduct and self-imposed advertising restriction during the WC) from Kindred and BAGO.  Regarding the ban, those discussions have been conducted through BAGO. We don’t comment in detail what has been discussed between ourselves and the regulator.