Hello,

Poker in Belgium is legal, but only for a couple of websites. I don't really know a lot about the laws there concerning poker. Does anyone have a good insight in this? What's good and bad about the country regarding poker and are there better alternatives (countries) to live in to play poker.

Thanks

you need to pay taxes (if you are a professional player) which can go very high depending on your income (up to 50% when making 35k € or more). So basically there are way better options...

I prefer denmark - you can play at .dk rooms and dont need to pay taxes. dk-rooms include every big brand (stars, party, 888, betsson, betsafe etc.) so plenty of legal options

The sites that are regulated are on international player pools. PokerStars is the only major network regulated in Belgium; the other sites are very small I believe. I think VIP rewards are a little worse on ps.BE and p2p transfers are disabled, but other than that your experience will be much the same.

My understanding is many other networks continue to accept player from Belgium, including PartyPoker, despite attempts by the Belgium gambling authority to block access to these sites. It is in theory a criminal offense for a player to play on an unlicensed site.

Is it not possible that OP's tax obligation is to his country of citizenship, not residency? I'm no expert in this, and I think it depends on bilateral agreements between the two countries.

If it ever comes of me moving due to poker I would prefer to go to Canada or New Zealand. If I get a citizenship there, will I be able to play under their laws and not pay taxes in Belgium? Belgian taxes are the highest in the world.

Hello all ,

So , i am a Bulgarian player visiting Belgium , yesterday i tried log in my bwin acc it’s says prohibited ( the bulgarian one ) so i went in to Belgium platform but it turns out if i want to make a registration with it , i need to have belgium phone number + belgium personal number ( for this one you need to be a citizen of the country ) anyway so i talked to the support it looks like i wont be able to play .

No worries so i check other major poker rooms , the very same thing ....

How the F then ppl from all around going into different countries and play online with no worries ?

If you guys have any “tips” how we can solve this hit me on PM or here .

Also if there are players from near Antwerpen i will be glad to make new friendships .

Thanks in advance ,

Best ,

Georgi K.

Hello,

I recently came back playing online on PokerStars after taking a long time away from the table. Stupid chest system was already running last time I played but at the time could change coins into ticket to 10-25-100-1000$ freerol (Belgian regulation prohibited PokerStars to let us use same vip system as rest of the world. So we basically had heads up freeroll sit*go to buy with our coins to play between belgians where both players win same price)

It appears that this sit&go system is not allowed anymore since march 2020 and thus belgian players have not any sort of rake back available on the site. (We don't win tournament tickets nor tournament money in our chest according to star chat) Only thing left is PokerStars reward store where we can buy shirts and chocolate...

I was wondering if, by any chance,I missunderstood even though it seems unlikely. And if not, is there any better options to play online than PokerStars ?

Thank you,

Unibet, softer field.

I'm not bothered with Star's pool, rather looking for a better reward program and Unibet doesnt seem to have anything to propose for belgian players unfortunately.

In belgium they are not allowed to reward players anymore. No free tournament tickets, no rakeback, no prizes...nothing at all.

Unfortunately

Hello all,

I am a belgian player, I play 10NL cash game but I am about to move up on 25NL. In Belgium we don t have anymore rakeback or other promotions. Is there some Belgians players here who plays other rooms than PS, Unibet, Bwin? Where is safe to play and have some good rakeback?

Because I am looking for to play on Tigergaming, maybe AmericasCardroom who accept belgians but I don t know if it s risky or not? Those sites are not on the blacklist.

Thank you !