European Commission Says Belgium Did Not Favor Ladbrokes

The European Commission (EC) has issued a ruling on a long-standing dispute involving Ladbrokes and Belgium. In an official statement on its website, the EC concluded that the sports betting operator did not receive any unauthorized aid from the state.

The commission also noted that a non-confidential version of its decision will be published at a later date.

EC Did Not Identify Any Wrongdoing

The EC agreed that the country did not provide Ladbrokes with state aid in the form of virtual betting operating rights. This decision relates to a case from 2020 when operators in the Belgian gambling sector complained that Ladbrokes had received unlawful aid from the state.

According to the complaint, Ladbrokes had been granted “exclusive rights to operate virtual betting” by the Belgian Gaming Commission, violating EU State aid rules.

The EC launched a probe into the matter and assessed the alleged measure under the EU State rules. After carefully examining the case, the commission concluded that Ladbrokes, in fact, did not receive any such aid.

The EC elaborated that informal email replies sent by the Belgian Gaming Commission to Ladbrokes did not constitute an act of granting aid per the EU State rules. The commission elaborated that the email replies did not “produce effects of granting exclusive rights on virtual betting to Ladbrokes.”

In addition to that, the commission understood that Belgium did not waive or forgo any resources that should have been paid by Ladbrokes for operating online betting. As a result, the EC stood by Ladbrokes, confirming that the alleged measure does not constitute State aid under EU rules.

The EC concluded that a non-confidential version of this decision will be published later, once all confidentiality issues have been resolved.

The Commission Was Accused of Favoring Ladbrokes

For context, the Belgian Gaming Commission had, between 2012 and 2015 ruled that Class IV establishments, such as Ladbrokes’ shops, could offer online betting. In 2014 and 2015, the commission responded positively to Ladbrokes’ inquiries concerning permissions to offer retail and online betting. However, from 2015, it started denying similar requests from other operators.

Ladbrokes’ authorization to offer online betting was thus suspended in 2017 and allegedly continued to offer virtual betting for another year.

Because of that, other operators alleged that the Belgian Gaming Commission is favoring Ladbrokes. However, the EC’s ruling refutes that, meaning that Ladbrokes will not fave a fine and the Belgian state will not face censure.

Ladbrokes Ads Appeared on Home Monitoring App

In other news, Ladbrokes ads recently appeared to users of YCC365 Plus, a home monitoring app that some people use to monitor their babies. Members of the gaming reform charity Gambling With Lives scrutinized the ads for exposing families to harm.

However, Entain, which owns Ladbrokes, argued that YCC365 Plus was targeted at parents and not their children.