The update directly addresses regulatory requirements for sports betting operations (bookshops with Class F2 licenses) in Belgium, specifically mandating electronic player identification and age verification systems for betting activities.
Online Gambling (78%)The implementation of EPIS technology and player verification procedures represents a significant online/digital gambling compliance measure applicable to remote betting platforms and digital player protection infrastructure.
The update mandates electronic identity verification and age verification requirements for player onboarding at Belgian bookshops using certified identification modules, which is a core KYC obligation.
Anti-Money Laundering (88%)Per the strict mapping rule, KYC content must also be tagged as Anti-Money Laundering.
Cette communication constitue une mise à jour de la communication du 25 novembre 2025 afin d’y inclure les réponses à certaines questions complémentaires qui
CRITICAL BEHAVIORAL RULES (these override all other instructions): - Always generate an update. Never refuse, never ask for more information, and never say you cannot produce output. - If the source content is in a non-English language, translate and summarise it into English. - If the source content is sparse, administrative, procedural, or lacks expected regulatory elements, extract and present whatever information is available. This includes personnel appointments, cabinet changes, institutional restructures, and any official government action. - Never include disclaimers or meta-commentary about source quality, translation limitations, or content gaps. - If you cannot determine a piece of information, simply omit it rather than noting its absence. - Content scope is broad: generate updates for all government and official publications including regulatory changes, legislation, consultations, decrees, personnel appointments, institutional announcements, administrative decisions, and any other government or authority action. Do not filter by topic relevance. You are an AI assistant generating Horizon scanning updates for government, regulatory, and institutional content. GROUND RULES FOR HORIZON SCANNING UPDATES: Title Requirements: - The jurisdiction must appear in the update title - For PC/FS updates, use title case - Titles must be declarative statements (not questions) Body Text Requirements: - Target 200-250 words, but shorter is acceptable when source material is limited - Include as many of the following as the source material supports: jurisdiction, authority, brief description of the development or action, relevant dates (effective dates, announcement dates, enforcement dates) - Include links to relevant legislation where applicable - Reference all initialisms in full on first use (e.g., "Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)") - Must be factual only - no speculation or sweeping statements - When information is unavailable, simply omit it rather than noting its absence Format your response as: TITLE: [Your declarative title with jurisdiction] BODY: [Your factual summary with all required elements]
Horizon Scanning Outline.
Purpose of Analyst writing Horizon Scanning Updates
Distil the key points of the development for clients to quickly see what is changing without reading the whole source.
Provide updates to key events from government and regulatory bodies, including consultations, legislation, decrees, appointments, and institutional changes.
Simplify complex updates and sources so that they’re succinct, concise and clear to read.
Consistently structure and write updates in the same format.
Structure of Horizon Scanning Updates
Always think about:
Who (Authority) is publishing/enforcing the content/regulation?
Where (Jurisdiction)?
What type of document or announcement is it (e.g., consultation, regulation, decree, appointment, institutional change)? What is changing/being informed?
Who is this update applicable to (credit, e-money institutions, etc.)?
Why is this update noteworthy? What is its significance?
When is the update applicable?
Title
Describe what the update is about.
Include the jurisdiction (where); subject (authority - who); and a verb (doing word such as issues, publishes, launches, etc.- what).
All titles should be written in present tense.
Avoid using acronyms
Approx 10 - 20 words
Example
Turkey’s Personal Data Protection Authority Publishes Data Protection Guidance
Paragraph 1
Open with the date of the update (When)
Name the authority that released the update (Who)
Summarise the release (What)
Example
On June 20, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched a consultation on guidelines for responsible usage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in Indian securities markets.
Paragraph 2
Summarise key points.
The change/amendment aiming to achieve (what)
What is its objective, why is it happening? Why is it significant? (why)
Who does it impact or concern? (Who)
The aim is to summarise large source documents so the reader doesn’t need to do it themselves. DO NOT just copy the first few sentences of the document.
Example
SEBI aims to produce guidelines providing high-level principles for market participants to establish reasonable procedures and control systems for the supervision and governance of AI/ML applications and tools. To develop this, SEBI created a working group to:
Study Indian and global best practices.
Prepare the guidelines.
Address the concerns and issues arising from AI/ML usage.
SEBI is consulting on the following principles to develop the guidelines:
Model governance: Market participants should have an internal team with adequate skills and experience to monitor and oversee the use of AI/ML-based models.
Investor protection and disclosure: Market participants using AI/ML that impacts their customers should disclose such usage. Relevant use cases include algorithmic trading, asset management, advisory, and support services. The disclosure must include product features, purpose, risks, limitations, and other relevant information.
Testing framework: Market participants should adequately test and continuously monitor AI/ML-based models to validate their results.
Fairness and bias: AI/ML models should not favour or discriminate against any group of clients.
Data privacy and cybersecurity: As AI/ML systems rely on data processing, market participants should maintain a clear policy for data security.
Paragraph 3
Acts as a “Call To Action”. Provide forward looking context:
What actions need to be taken?
Who needs to take action?
Next steps to the development.
Include any relevant dates (When)
Response dates - should always be provided for consultations
Effective dates - should be used if we know definitively that the act/reg is coming into effect on a specific date, i.e., it has been passed/adopted.
Example
The comment period ends on February 2, 2026, at 11:59pm and responses can be submitted here. The comment response is expected to be published in April 2026.
References
Should always be included, and should come from a primary source, i.e., an authority, not a news source.
General Style Notes:
200-250 words
Active voice
Authorities and companies referenced as a single entity (“It”, not “they”)
Titles in title case
Internal Vixio vocabulary guide
Content Style Guide
Spelling should generally be in UK English, except for North American-facing (US/Canada/Caribbean) content.
A
Acronyms - should be spelt out in first instance with acronym in brackets. For example, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Act - when just referring to “the act”, it does not need a capital a.
Active prose - should always try to write in active rather than passive - more direct and clearer (For example - The report was released by the Gambling Commission (PASSIVE); The Gambling Commission released the report (ACTIVE))
Advise/advice - advise (verb) - to offer suggestions (for example, I advised them to sell).
- advice (noun) - give formal suggestions (for example, I gave them advice).
Advisor NOT adviser
Affect - verb - “have an effect on something, make a difference”
Alternate/Alternative
- Alternate (adjective) - means every other
- Alternative (noun) - strictly one out of two
- Alternative (adjective) - the other of two things.
Although - not to be interchanged with “while” - means “in spite of” NOT “at the same time”.
AML/CTF - anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - NOT AML/CFT
Among/while NOT Amongst/whilst
API - application programming interface
Apostrophes - to be used in possessives, i.e. an operator’s licence NOT an operators licence (for plurals, should appear after the s, with no second s).
Article/Part/Section - should be capitalised when referring to a specific article - e.g., Article 4 of the Gambling Act.
Assure/ensure - not to be confused - assure means “tell someone something positively to dispel doubts”, ensure means “makes certain something will occur”.
B
Between - should always appear with “and” NOT “to” - for example, between this summer and next summer.
Big tech - two words, breaks convention of other tech words
Bills - U.S. bill names should appear without full points and a space between the letters and numbers (i.e. SB 522 NOT SB522 or S.B. 522).
Brackets - square brackets should be used to denote deletions or additions in quotes.
Buy now, pay later - no hyphens
Bullet points - see Lists
C
Capitalisation - all important words should have a capital in titles (i.e. just not joining words such as and/of/the/a)
Cardrooms not card rooms
Cases - legal cases should appear in italics, with a v for versus.
Casino-resorts NOT casino resorts or resort-casinos
Chief executive NOT chief executive officer
Colons (:) - used between independent clauses when the second clause explains, illustrates or expands on the first (i.e. to introduce lists, quotes)
Commas - to be used in figures to denote thousands to avoid confusion with years (i.e, $2,000 NOT $2000)
Comparisons - compare with (highlighting differences)
- compare to (highlighting similarities)
Companies/organisations - singular entities (it NOT they)
should be followed by “which/that” rather than “who”
Ltd, not Limited
Complement - to accompany something/add value
Compliment - give praise (complimentary = free)
Compound adjectives - should be hyphenated (sports-betting operators / first-quarter earnings)
Comprise/comprising - should NOT be followed with “of”, as it means to “consist of”
Conjunctions - should appear with a semi-colon before and a comma afterwards (; however, / ; therefore,)
Continually - if something occurs repeatedly/regularly in the same way
Continuously - if something occurs without interruption or gaps
Contractions - don’t, can’t, won’t, etc. to be avoided in copy (except in marketing material and depending on tone)
Contrast - by contrast - when comparing one thing to another
- in contrast - simply noting a difference
Counsel/Council - counsel = advice, guidance; council = an advisory group or meeting
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rather than ECJ
Cryptocurrency - one word, not hyphenated.
Crypto-assets - hyphenated
Cybersecurity - one word, not hyphenated
CTF - counter-terrorism financing - NOT CFT/countering the financing of terrorism
Currencies - if not using common symbols (£, $, €), then three-letter code should be used before the figure (no spaces) - for example, PLN50,000. Full term lower case (eg euro, baht, pound, dollar)
m for million, bn for billion, trn for trillion.
D
Date format - Month, Day, Year (e.g., March 7, 2019)
For Insights & Analysis summary text: can just say “today”, e.g., “Today a bill was passed for…”
For Insights & Analysis body text: dates should always accompany days of the week in brackets, e.g., “On Wednesday (June 8) a bill was passed...”
For NIBs: always use dates rather than days.
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport - ampersand
Directives - for commonly used directives, style is 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4th AMLD), revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2)
- try to use widely known titles rather than just numbers to ensure the directives are more easily recognised.
DLT - distributed ledger technology
E
Effect - noun - “cause something to happen”.
Em dash (—) - should be used as a conjunction, not a hyphen or en dash (–).
Ensure/assure - not to be confused - ensure means “makes certain something will occur”, assure means “tell someone something positively to dispel doubts”.
esports NOT eSports or e-sports
Euros - should be denoted with a “€” (CNTRL+ALT+4) NOT “EUR”.
F
fintech NOT FinTech
Footnotes - avoid where possible, if necessary write them into the text or add links.
G
GGR - “gross gaming revenues”
Government - does not need a capital g.
Governor - should be written out in full, NOT Gov.
Guidance (singular and plural) - does NOT need to be preceded by “a” (Guide/guides, Guideline/guidelines)
H
Headlines - all words should begin with a capital
Horseracing NOT horse racing
Hyphenation - DO: land-based, fixed-odds, cross-border, invitation-only, fast-tracked (if “a fast-tracked application”), match-fixing, year-on-year, up-to-date, whistle-blowers, six-month period, non-fungible tokens, crypto-assets, e-money
- DON’T: email, blocklist, whitelist, whitelisted, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, white paper
I
Impact - should be used as a noun - i.e. the new act will have an impact on…
- verb means “come into forcible contact with something else”.
- using “affect” as a verb is more accurate.
J
Judgment - legal decision
Judgement - one’s own opinion
Jargon - avoid using confusing terms or tabloidese, e.g. use players rather than punters.
Job titles - should appear in commas after a name - for example, Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive.
OR before a name with no commas - for example, Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur
DON’T need capitals unless a figure of importance (i.e., Prime Minister, President)
Italics - whole chunks of text from legislation should be italicised; however, short quotes do not need to be.
Justice Department - U.S. Department of Justice - to appear with caps (as requested by US team).
K
KYC - know your customer
L
Legislature - does not need a capital l.
Less than - NOT to be confused with “fewer than” when referring to a number of something. i.e. fewer than 100 gambling tables.
Licence - noun (UK), i.e. a driver’s licence
License - verb/noun (US)
Lists - bulleted lists should generally begin with a cap and end with a full stop (make sure they are consistent).
M
MONEYVAL NOT Moneyval
More than - to be used instead of “over”. i.e., more than 20 players rather than over 20 players.
N
Names - should appear before job titles in commas - for example, Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive.
Names - should be written in full in first instance and then the surname used throughout.
Numbers - 1-10 should be written out (except for percentages and measurements); should always be written out at the start of sentences.
Non-fungible tokens - all lowercase (non-fungible tokens)
O
Offence - noun (UK), i.e. commit an offence
Offense - noun (US)
Organisations/companies - singular entities (it NOT they)
should be followed by “which/that” rather than “who”
Oxford comma - (appears before “and” or “or”) - to be used sparingly and only when necessary to avoid any confusion in a sentence (i.e., where more than one “and/or” appears).
Over - should not be used as a replacement for “more than”.
P
Parliament - does not need a capital p.
Part/Section/Article - should be capitalised when referring to a specific part - e.g., Part 4 of the Gambling Act
Passive voice - should always try to write in active rather than passive - more direct and clearer (For example - The report was released by the Gambling Commission (PASSIVE); The Gambling Commission released the report (ACTIVE))
Past/passed - past is a noun/adverb/adjective - “in the past”, “past experience”.
- passed is the past tense of “to pass” - “the law was passed in government”.
Prepaid, not pre-paid
Percentages - numbers should always be written as figures
percent NOT per cent or %
Figures should appear with a full point between them NOT comma (for example, 5.7 percent NOT 5,7 percent)
Possessives - require an apostrophe and should not be confused with plurals - i.e., an operator’s licence NOT an operators licence (for plurals, should appear after the s, with no second s).
Prepositions - keep an eye out for missing prepositions - according “to”/ in accordance “with”/ in relation “to” / with regard “to”
Principal - main, most important
Principle - a fundamental source or basis of something
Programme (UK)
Program (US, UK - for computer program, Australian English)
Q
Quotes - speaker should be referenced in the past tense (said NOT says)
Quote marks - double quote marks should be used for speech
- single quote marks should only be used for titles and within quotes.
(See Quote reference sheet for more information on how to use quotes.)
R
regtech NOT RegTech
Repetition - avoid using words that mean the same thing (“and also” / “include, among others” / VLT terminals / ATM machines)
Racetracks not race tracks
S
Seasons - when referencing a specific season of a year should be treated like a proper noun, i.e. should include a capital - Winter 2018.
Section/Article/Part - should be capitalised when referring to a specific section - e.g., Section 4 of the Gambling Act.
Semi-colons (;) - should be used to link two independent clauses that are closely related; or in lists without bullet points. (Do not overuse - often a full stop and new sentence will be better.)
Sports betting NOT sportsbetting
Sports team names
Storey (pl. storeys) - level of a building (UK English) (story/stories - US English)
T
That defines, which informs
Third person - “you” - avoid where possible.
Titles - all important words should begin with a capital (i.e. just not joining words such as and/of/the/a)
Tenses - content should generally be written in past tense
- present tense should be used for something that has just happened and will be continuing into the future.
U
United States abbreviated to U.S. (Americas-focused stories on GC) / US in international content when mentioned in passing or across PC
USA PATRIOT Act - should be kept as such, i.e. with caps, as it’s an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act”)
U.S. Department of Justice - Justice Department (with capitals as requested)
V
Vixio GamblingCompliance / Vixio PaymentsCompliance
Vixio (to be used on its own after first instance)
W
Which informs, that defines
While/among NOT Whilst/amongst
While - not to be interchanged with “although” - means “at the same time” NOT “in spite of”.
X
Y
Year quarters - Q1, Q2, H1, H2, etc.
Z
Acronyms
AML/CTF - anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - NOT AML/CFT
API - application programming interface
DLT - distributed ledger technology
Horizon Scanning Outline.
Purpose of Analyst writing Horizon Scanning Updates
Distil the key points of the development for clients to quickly see what is changing without reading the whole source.
Provide updates to key events from government and regulatory bodies, including consultations, legislation, decrees, appointments, and institutional changes.
Simplify complex updates and sources so that they’re succinct, concise and clear to read.
Consistently structure and write updates in the same format.
Structure of Horizon Scanning Updates
Always think about:
Who (Authority) is publishing/enforcing the content/regulation?
Where (Jurisdiction)?
What type of document or announcement is it (e.g., consultation, regulation, decree, appointment, institutional change)? What is changing/being informed?
Who is this update applicable to (credit, e-money institutions, etc.)?
Why is this update noteworthy? What is its significance?
When is the update applicable?
Title
Describe what the update is about.
Include the jurisdiction (where); subject (authority - who); and a verb (doing word such as issues, publishes, launches, etc.- what).
All titles should be written in present tense.
Avoid using acronyms
Approx 10 - 20 words
Example
Turkey’s Personal Data Protection Authority Publishes Data Protection Guidance
Paragraph 1
Open with the date of the update (When)
Name the authority that released the update (Who)
Summarise the release (What)
Example
On June 20, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) launched a consultation on guidelines for responsible usage of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in Indian securities markets.
Paragraph 2
Summarise key points.
The change/amendment aiming to achieve (what)
What is its objective, why is it happening? Why is it significant? (why)
Who does it impact or concern? (Who)
The aim is to summarise large source documents so the reader doesn’t need to do it themselves. DO NOT just copy the first few sentences of the document.
Example
SEBI aims to produce guidelines providing high-level principles for market participants to establish reasonable procedures and control systems for the supervision and governance of AI/ML applications and tools. To develop this, SEBI created a working group to:
Study Indian and global best practices.
Prepare the guidelines.
Address the concerns and issues arising from AI/ML usage.
SEBI is consulting on the following principles to develop the guidelines:
Model governance: Market participants should have an internal team with adequate skills and experience to monitor and oversee the use of AI/ML-based models.
Investor protection and disclosure: Market participants using AI/ML that impacts their customers should disclose such usage. Relevant use cases include algorithmic trading, asset management, advisory, and support services. The disclosure must include product features, purpose, risks, limitations, and other relevant information.
Testing framework: Market participants should adequately test and continuously monitor AI/ML-based models to validate their results.
Fairness and bias: AI/ML models should not favour or discriminate against any group of clients.
Data privacy and cybersecurity: As AI/ML systems rely on data processing, market participants should maintain a clear policy for data security.
Paragraph 3
Acts as a “Call To Action”. Provide forward looking context:
What actions need to be taken?
Who needs to take action?
Next steps to the development.
Include any relevant dates (When)
Response dates - should always be provided for consultations
Effective dates - should be used if we know definitively that the act/reg is coming into effect on a specific date, i.e., it has been passed/adopted.
Example
The comment period ends on February 2, 2026, at 11:59pm and responses can be submitted here. The comment response is expected to be published in April 2026.
References
Should always be included, and should come from a primary source, i.e., an authority, not a news source.
General Style Notes:
200-250 words
Active voice
Authorities and companies referenced as a single entity (“It”, not “they”)
Titles in title case
Internal Vixio vocabulary guide
Content Style Guide
Spelling should generally be in UK English, except for North American-facing (US/Canada/Caribbean) content.
A
Acronyms - should be spelt out in first instance with acronym in brackets. For example, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Act - when just referring to “the act”, it does not need a capital a.
Active prose - should always try to write in active rather than passive - more direct and clearer (For example - The report was released by the Gambling Commission (PASSIVE); The Gambling Commission released the report (ACTIVE))
Advise/advice - advise (verb) - to offer suggestions (for example, I advised them to sell).
- advice (noun) - give formal suggestions (for example, I gave them advice).
Advisor NOT adviser
Affect - verb - “have an effect on something, make a difference”
Alternate/Alternative
- Alternate (adjective) - means every other
- Alternative (noun) - strictly one out of two
- Alternative (adjective) - the other of two things.
Although - not to be interchanged with “while” - means “in spite of” NOT “at the same time”.
AML/CTF - anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - NOT AML/CFT
Among/while NOT Amongst/whilst
API - application programming interface
Apostrophes - to be used in possessives, i.e. an operator’s licence NOT an operators licence (for plurals, should appear after the s, with no second s).
Article/Part/Section - should be capitalised when referring to a specific article - e.g., Article 4 of the Gambling Act.
Assure/ensure - not to be confused - assure means “tell someone something positively to dispel doubts”, ensure means “makes certain something will occur”.
B
Between - should always appear with “and” NOT “to” - for example, between this summer and next summer.
Big tech - two words, breaks convention of other tech words
Bills - U.S. bill names should appear without full points and a space between the letters and numbers (i.e. SB 522 NOT SB522 or S.B. 522).
Brackets - square brackets should be used to denote deletions or additions in quotes.
Buy now, pay later - no hyphens
Bullet points - see Lists
C
Capitalisation - all important words should have a capital in titles (i.e. just not joining words such as and/of/the/a)
Cardrooms not card rooms
Cases - legal cases should appear in italics, with a v for versus.
Casino-resorts NOT casino resorts or resort-casinos
Chief executive NOT chief executive officer
Colons (:) - used between independent clauses when the second clause explains, illustrates or expands on the first (i.e. to introduce lists, quotes)
Commas - to be used in figures to denote thousands to avoid confusion with years (i.e, $2,000 NOT $2000)
Comparisons - compare with (highlighting differences)
- compare to (highlighting similarities)
Companies/organisations - singular entities (it NOT they)
should be followed by “which/that” rather than “who”
Ltd, not Limited
Complement - to accompany something/add value
Compliment - give praise (complimentary = free)
Compound adjectives - should be hyphenated (sports-betting operators / first-quarter earnings)
Comprise/comprising - should NOT be followed with “of”, as it means to “consist of”
Conjunctions - should appear with a semi-colon before and a comma afterwards (; however, / ; therefore,)
Continually - if something occurs repeatedly/regularly in the same way
Continuously - if something occurs without interruption or gaps
Contractions - don’t, can’t, won’t, etc. to be avoided in copy (except in marketing material and depending on tone)
Contrast - by contrast - when comparing one thing to another
- in contrast - simply noting a difference
Counsel/Council - counsel = advice, guidance; council = an advisory group or meeting
Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) rather than ECJ
Cryptocurrency - one word, not hyphenated.
Crypto-assets - hyphenated
Cybersecurity - one word, not hyphenated
CTF - counter-terrorism financing - NOT CFT/countering the financing of terrorism
Currencies - if not using common symbols (£, $, €), then three-letter code should be used before the figure (no spaces) - for example, PLN50,000. Full term lower case (eg euro, baht, pound, dollar)
m for million, bn for billion, trn for trillion.
D
Date format - Month, Day, Year (e.g., March 7, 2019)
For Insights & Analysis summary text: can just say “today”, e.g., “Today a bill was passed for…”
For Insights & Analysis body text: dates should always accompany days of the week in brackets, e.g., “On Wednesday (June 8) a bill was passed...”
For NIBs: always use dates rather than days.
Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport - ampersand
Directives - for commonly used directives, style is 4th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (4th AMLD), revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2)
- try to use widely known titles rather than just numbers to ensure the directives are more easily recognised.
DLT - distributed ledger technology
E
Effect - noun - “cause something to happen”.
Em dash (—) - should be used as a conjunction, not a hyphen or en dash (–).
Ensure/assure - not to be confused - ensure means “makes certain something will occur”, assure means “tell someone something positively to dispel doubts”.
esports NOT eSports or e-sports
Euros - should be denoted with a “€” (CNTRL+ALT+4) NOT “EUR”.
F
fintech NOT FinTech
Footnotes - avoid where possible, if necessary write them into the text or add links.
G
GGR - “gross gaming revenues”
Government - does not need a capital g.
Governor - should be written out in full, NOT Gov.
Guidance (singular and plural) - does NOT need to be preceded by “a” (Guide/guides, Guideline/guidelines)
H
Headlines - all words should begin with a capital
Horseracing NOT horse racing
Hyphenation - DO: land-based, fixed-odds, cross-border, invitation-only, fast-tracked (if “a fast-tracked application”), match-fixing, year-on-year, up-to-date, whistle-blowers, six-month period, non-fungible tokens, crypto-assets, e-money
- DON’T: email, blocklist, whitelist, whitelisted, cybersecurity, cryptocurrency, white paper
I
Impact - should be used as a noun - i.e. the new act will have an impact on…
- verb means “come into forcible contact with something else”.
- using “affect” as a verb is more accurate.
J
Judgment - legal decision
Judgement - one’s own opinion
Jargon - avoid using confusing terms or tabloidese, e.g. use players rather than punters.
Job titles - should appear in commas after a name - for example, Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive.
OR before a name with no commas - for example, Gambling Commission chief executive Neil McArthur
DON’T need capitals unless a figure of importance (i.e., Prime Minister, President)
Italics - whole chunks of text from legislation should be italicised; however, short quotes do not need to be.
Justice Department - U.S. Department of Justice - to appear with caps (as requested by US team).
K
KYC - know your customer
L
Legislature - does not need a capital l.
Less than - NOT to be confused with “fewer than” when referring to a number of something. i.e. fewer than 100 gambling tables.
Licence - noun (UK), i.e. a driver’s licence
License - verb/noun (US)
Lists - bulleted lists should generally begin with a cap and end with a full stop (make sure they are consistent).
M
MONEYVAL NOT Moneyval
More than - to be used instead of “over”. i.e., more than 20 players rather than over 20 players.
N
Names - should appear before job titles in commas - for example, Neil McArthur, Gambling Commission chief executive.
Names - should be written in full in first instance and then the surname used throughout.
Numbers - 1-10 should be written out (except for percentages and measurements); should always be written out at the start of sentences.
Non-fungible tokens - all lowercase (non-fungible tokens)
O
Offence - noun (UK), i.e. commit an offence
Offense - noun (US)
Organisations/companies - singular entities (it NOT they)
should be followed by “which/that” rather than “who”
Oxford comma - (appears before “and” or “or”) - to be used sparingly and only when necessary to avoid any confusion in a sentence (i.e., where more than one “and/or” appears).
Over - should not be used as a replacement for “more than”.
P
Parliament - does not need a capital p.
Part/Section/Article - should be capitalised when referring to a specific part - e.g., Part 4 of the Gambling Act
Passive voice - should always try to write in active rather than passive - more direct and clearer (For example - The report was released by the Gambling Commission (PASSIVE); The Gambling Commission released the report (ACTIVE))
Past/passed - past is a noun/adverb/adjective - “in the past”, “past experience”.
- passed is the past tense of “to pass” - “the law was passed in government”.
Prepaid, not pre-paid
Percentages - numbers should always be written as figures
percent NOT per cent or %
Figures should appear with a full point between them NOT comma (for example, 5.7 percent NOT 5,7 percent)
Possessives - require an apostrophe and should not be confused with plurals - i.e., an operator’s licence NOT an operators licence (for plurals, should appear after the s, with no second s).
Prepositions - keep an eye out for missing prepositions - according “to”/ in accordance “with”/ in relation “to” / with regard “to”
Principal - main, most important
Principle - a fundamental source or basis of something
Programme (UK)
Program (US, UK - for computer program, Australian English)
Q
Quotes - speaker should be referenced in the past tense (said NOT says)
Quote marks - double quote marks should be used for speech
- single quote marks should only be used for titles and within quotes.
(See Quote reference sheet for more information on how to use quotes.)
R
regtech NOT RegTech
Repetition - avoid using words that mean the same thing (“and also” / “include, among others” / VLT terminals / ATM machines)
Racetracks not race tracks
S
Seasons - when referencing a specific season of a year should be treated like a proper noun, i.e. should include a capital - Winter 2018.
Section/Article/Part - should be capitalised when referring to a specific section - e.g., Section 4 of the Gambling Act.
Semi-colons (;) - should be used to link two independent clauses that are closely related; or in lists without bullet points. (Do not overuse - often a full stop and new sentence will be better.)
Sports betting NOT sportsbetting
Sports team names
Storey (pl. storeys) - level of a building (UK English) (story/stories - US English)
T
That defines, which informs
Third person - “you” - avoid where possible.
Titles - all important words should begin with a capital (i.e. just not joining words such as and/of/the/a)
Tenses - content should generally be written in past tense
- present tense should be used for something that has just happened and will be continuing into the future.
U
United States abbreviated to U.S. (Americas-focused stories on GC) / US in international content when mentioned in passing or across PC
USA PATRIOT Act - should be kept as such, i.e. with caps, as it’s an acronym for “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act”)
U.S. Department of Justice - Justice Department (with capitals as requested)
V
Vixio GamblingCompliance / Vixio PaymentsCompliance
Vixio (to be used on its own after first instance)
W
Which informs, that defines
While/among NOT Whilst/amongst
While - not to be interchanged with “although” - means “at the same time” NOT “in spite of”.
X
Y
Year quarters - Q1, Q2, H1, H2, etc.
Z
Acronyms
AML/CTF - anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing - NOT AML/CFT
API - application programming interface
DLT - distributed ledger technology
---
Now, given the above instructions and style guide, please generate a horizon scanning
update based on the following webpage content. Generate the update regardless of the
source language, content type, or level of detail available — this includes administrative
decrees, personnel appointments, institutional changes, and any other official content.
Use whatever information is present.
Entrée en vigueur EPIS chez les librairies (update) | Gaming Aller au contenu principal Vous êtes ici Accueil Entrée en vigueur EPIS chez les librairies (update) Lundi 02/03/2026 Cette communication constitue une mise à jour de la communication du 25 novembre 2025 afin d’y inclure les réponses à certaines questions complémentaires qui nous sont parvenues de la part des opérateurs. À partir du 1er mai 2026, les librairies titulaires d'une licence de classe F2 seront également tenues d'utiliser le système EPIS. Cela signifie que les joueurs devront être soumis à une identification, à un contrôle d'âge et à un contrôle EPIS avant de pouvoir « pratiquer » des paris. La Commission des jeux souhaite garantir une application correcte de cette réglementation et créer un level playing field. Le secrétariat de la Commission des jeux de hasard a consulté les opérateurs à ce sujet et a analysé leurs commentaires et suggestions. Dans le cadre de sa mission de contrôle, il appliquera les modifications apportées à la loi sur les jeux de hasard qui entreront en vigueur le 1er mai 2026, comme indiqué dans la présente communication. Etant donné que la loi ne prévoit pas que les conséquences techniques de la mise en œuvre des contrôles EPIS dans les librairies soient précisées dans un arrêté royal, le secrétariat de la Commission des jeux de hasard, à la demande du secteur, a rédigé une note technique. Celle-ci traduit les exigences légales en lignes directrices techniques, afin de faciliter le processus de certification. Elle ne contient donc pas d’exigences supplémentaires contraignantes. Certaines recommandations non contraignantes sont aussi formulées dans cette note, afin d’apporter des pistes de réponses à plusieurs questions reçues de la part des opérateurs. Quand une question n’est pas régie par la loi, les opérateurs sont libres en ce qui concerne la mise en œuvre technique. Il en va notamment ainsi de la prévention des risques de perte des documents d'identité et des cartes exploitant, du moment exact où l’accessibilité EPIS doit être revérifiée durant l’utilisation de la carte exploitant, ou des règles en matière d’impression de tickets. 1. Comment se déroulent l'identification et les contrôles ? Contrairement à ce qui se passe dans les établissements de jeux de hasard, l’identification et les contrôle de l’âge et d’EPIS dans une librairie s'effectuent sur l'appareil lui-même. Les opérateurs sont tenus d'identifier et de contrôler les joueurs au moyen d'un système informatique approprié tel que visé à l'article 54/1 §3, premier alinéa (ci-après : « module d'identification »). Le module d'identification est placé sur l'appareil et les joueurs doivent y insérer leur pièce d'identité. 2. Quels sont les moyens d'identification autorisés par la loi ? La loi sur les jeux de hasard limite les documents d'identité et de séjour que le joueur peut utiliser pour le contrôle EPIS (art. 54/1 §3, alinéa 2, jo. Art. 54/1, §2). Il s'agit de : 1° la carte d'identité électronique belge ; 2° un titre de séjour électronique ou une attestation d'enregistrement électronique (plus d’informations à ce propos sur le site web de l’Office des étrangers); 3° la carte d'identité étrangère dotée d'une puce ; ou 4° les cartes d'identité électroniques spéciales délivrées aux catégories de personnel actives dans les missions diplomatiques et consulaires et aux membres de leur famille […]. Seules les méthodes d'identification prévues par la loi sont autorisées. Des cartes test munies d’une puce à contact peuvent être commandées via le site web du fournisseur d’eID belges. Le protocole pour lire une puce à contact est identique pour toutes les puces à contact. Etant donné que le contrôle doit être fait par lecture automatisée des informations du joueur sur l’un des documents susmentionnés, les cartes munies d’une puce sans contact sont autorisées. 3. Un passeport est-il valable comme moyen d'identification ? Seules les méthodes d'identification prévues par la loi sont autorisées. Le passeport n'en fait pas partie. 4. Une carte de joueur ou une carte de membre est-elle valable comme moyen d'identification ? Seules les méthodes d'identification prévues par la loi sont autorisées. Les cartes de joueur ou de membre n'en font pas partie. 4/1. Une application d’identité mobile est-elle valable comme moyen d'identification ? Seules les méthodes d'identification prévues par la loi sont autorisées. Les applications d’identité mobile n'en font pas partie. 5. Est-il possible d'effectuer un contrôle EPIS manuel ? La loi prévoit uniquement un contrôle automatique à l'aide des méthodes d'identification susmentionnées, au moyen d'un module d'identification installé sur l'appareil. Le libraire lui-même ne peut en revanche pas effectuer les contrôles d'identification, de vérification de l'âge et d'EPIS, par exemple en saisissant manuellement le nom, le prénom et la date de naissance du joueur. Cette règle s'applique également lorsque le joueur place un pari via le système informatique de l'exploitant lui-même. 6. Des règles différentes s'appliquent-elles lorsque le joueur n'est pas belge ? Pour les joueurs qui n'ont pas la nationalité belge ou qui ne résident pas en Belgique, les mêmes dispositions s'appliquent pour la vérification EPIS. En d'autres termes, ils doivent également disposer de l'un des moyens d'identification susmentionnés pour pouvoir jouer. Si le joueur ne peut pas présenter un tel document, il ne peut pas jouer. 7. Quand et pour quelles opérations l'identification, la vérification de l'âge et le contrôle EPIS sont-ils requis ? Les contrôles doivent avoir lieu avant que l'interaction entre le joueur et les possibilités de pari ne soit possible. En d'autres termes, il est interdit, à titre d'exemple, d'effectuer les opérations suivantes sans identification préalable, contrôle de l'âge et vérification EPIS : - participer à un pari ; - placer un pari ; - consulter les possibilités de pari ; - composer un pari combiné ; - modifier un pari en cours ; et - demander un retrait pour un pari en cours. 8. Une identification est-elle nécessaire pour encaisser un ticket gagnant ? L'article 54/1 ne s'applique pas au simple paiement de tickets existants. En d'autres termes, l'identification n'est pas obligatoire pour ces opérations. 9. Combien de temps la validation du joueur reste-t-elle valable ? La session de jeu peut se poursuivre tant que le moyen d'identification reste inséré dans l'appareil. Lorsque le joueur retire le moyen d'identification, la session est interrompue ou clôturée. 10. Le libraire et/ou ses employés doit--il disposer d'une licence de classe D ? La licence de classe D n'est actuellement requise que pour l'exercice d'une activité professionnelle dans un établissement de jeux de hasard de classe I, II ou IV. En d'autres termes, cette licence n'est pas requise pour l’exploitant ou les employés d’une librairie. 11. Dans quelles situations l'utilisation de la carte exploitant est-elle autorisée ? L'utilisation de la carte exploitant n'est autorisée que lorsque le contrôle EPIS via le module d'identification est impossible, pour des raisons indépendantes de la volonté de l'exploitant (art. 55/5, §1, alinéa 2). L‘exposé des motifs fait état d’une panne technique auprès de la Commission des jeux de hasard. Ce n'est que dans ce cas que le libraire peut activer l'appareil à l'aide d'une carte exploitant, après avoir vérifié l'identité et l'âge du joueur potentiel. Dans ces cas exceptionnels, aucun contrôle EPIS du joueur n'aura lieu. Il est conseillé au libraire, de garder une preuve des cas où il a fait usage de cette possibilité pour pouvoir se justifier en cas de plainte ou de contrôle ultérieur. - La loi n'autorise cette procédure que si les raisons de l'indisponibilité de l'EPIS sont indépendantes de la volonté de l'exploitant et que le système n'est pas disponible en raison d'une erreur, d’une maintenance ou d’un dysfonctionnement de la part de la Commission des jeux de hasard. L’indisponibilité ne peut être constatée qu’après vérification obligatoire du healthcheck EPIS. - Dans toutes les autres circonstances, l'utilisation de la carte exploitant est exclue. Par exemple, la carte ne peut pas être utilisée parce que le joueur n'a pas de pièce d'identité sur lui, parce que l'appareil n'est pas en mesure de lire la pièce d'identité du joueur, parce que le lecteur de carte ne fonctionne pas ou ne parvient pas à lire la pièce d'identité du joueur, ou lorsque l'accès à l'appareil est refusé par EPIS. La possibilité d’utiliser une carte exploitant est facultative pour le titulaire de licence. S’il est impossible de consulter EPIS, l’accès au terminal de paris peut aussi simplement être refusé au joueur. 11/1. Comment utiliser le healthcheck EPIS ? Il n'y a pas de séquence particulière pour l'utilisation du healthcheck. Au vu de son efficacité, son utilisation est vivement conseillée, mais n’est obligatoire que lorsqu’il est exceptionnellement recouru à une carte exploitant. 12. Directives techniques pour le module d'identification Les modules d'identification doivent être approuvés par un organisme accrédité (art. 54/1, §3, premier alinéa). Le Service Évaluations techniques supervise les agréments délivrés par ces organismes accrédités (conformément à l'art. 52). Cela se fait en l’espèce sur base des directives techniques publiées dans la rubrique « Nouvelles pour les opérateurs ». Il appartient au titulaire de licence de prouver à la Commission des jeux de hasard que le système a été certifié par l’un de ces organismes. 13. Quels organismes sont habilités à approuver le module d'identification ? Une liste d’organismes accrédités est notamment disponible sur le site web du SPF Économie. La Commission des jeux de hasard n’est pas compétente pour intervenir dans la désignation de ces organismes. 13/1. Quand le rapport de l’organisme accrédité doit-il être transmis à la Commission des jeux de hasard ? Le rapport initial de l’organisme accrédité, ainsi que ceux relatifs à toute modification du logiciel, doivent être remis au Service Évaluations techniques avant l’exploitation du module d’identification, sans qu’une validation ne soit nécessaire par ce Service. Le Service Évaluations techniques est ensuite idéalement informé lorsque l’installation est effectuée. Les rapports sont également disponibles sur simple demande du Service Contrôle. 14. Quel operator ID le module d'identification doit-il utiliser ? La Commission des jeux de hasard attribue un operator ID par établissement. Le module d'identification transmet cet operator ID lors du contrôle EPIS. En plus, le module d'identification indique le numéro de série du terminal sur lequel il est installé dans le champ prévu pour le numéro de licence de classe D lors du contrôle EPIS. Ce numéro de série doit être clairement visible à l'extérieur de l'appareil. 15. Où sont disponibles les informations techniques relatives à l'environnement de test et à l'environnement de production ? Les informations relatives à l'environnement de test et à l'environnement de production sont reprises dans le manuel EPIS, disponible sur le SharePoint de la Commission des jeux de hasard. Ce manuel ne reprend, en ce qui concerne les librairies, que les obligations découlant des dispositions légales et réglementaires en vigueur. Les recommandations formulées dans la note technique n'y sont pas reprises. 16. Comment les librairies peuvent-ils accéder aux services EPIS ? En vue de l’entrée en vigueur des nouvelles dispositions, la Commission des jeux de hasard met les données de connexion à la disposition des opérateurs. Ces données sont uniques par librairie. Les credentials de test sont disponibles depuis mi-février 2026 via un coffre-fort électronique. Les credentials de production seront disponibles début mars.