Mystery shoppers from the National Lottery have already caught more than 100 shops selling lottery tickets to people under 18 this year.
The news was first reported by De Tijd on Friday, based on figures that Federal MP Alexander Van Hoecke (Vlaams Belang) requested from the responsible Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA).
So far, 800 newsagents have been visited by National Lottery mystery shoppers this year. These young people visit sales outlets unannounced and anonymously to check whether the shop is complying with the ban on selling lottery tickets to minors.
Such checks have already resulted in 114 sales outlets (14.23%) being caught in the first half of 2025 – good for a total of €21,800 collected in fines (ranging from €60 to €1,000).
Points of sale rarely make repeated mistakes: since 2013, only six have been caught selling to minors three times.
The National Lottery conducts approximately 1,600 inspections annually, spread across four campaigns. The percentage of sellers who are caught selling to minors has decreased in recent years.
Since last year, the minimum age for gambling products has been raised to 21, but this does not apply to National Lottery products.
