Maltese based online gambling operator Kindred Group were among the first to respond to the ruling, saying that “The ruling also points out the inherent incompatibility between consumer protection and tax revenue objectives, especially when products (lotteries vs other products) and channels (retail vs online) are treated differently.”

The Belgian online gambling sector has been regulated since 2010 and in 2016 Belgium’s Finance Ministry successfully passed a bill putting online gambling services under the purview of Belgian VAT laws as a way of increasing economic income. The new taxation regime came into force in August 2016.

Kindred launched a legal challenge against the new legislation, claiming that it was “unfair, undermining policy objectives and lowering channelisation with lower consumer protection as a result.”

Kindred added: “For any gambling policy to succeed and with the “better offer one click away”, locally regulated online operators must be able to provide services of equivalent value to end consumers as services provided by competitors in the global digital world.”