The City of Brussels has awarded a 15-year operating concession for its city-centre casino to ECK NV, the company behind Napoleon Games, which will take control of the venue on 1 January 2027. The decision ends the tenure of Viage, a subsidiary of Casinos Austria International, which has run the casino since 2010 and must vacate the premises by the end of 2026.
The concession followed a competitive tender that drew six bids, including one from Viage, which had sought to keep the site. The casino sits on Boulevard Anspach in the pedestrianised heart of Brussels and covers 14,300 square metres. It is one of only nine Belgian venues holding a Class I gambling licence, the category that permits a full range of casino gaming. According to Le Soir, citing Viage, the casino draws more than 310,000 visitors a year.
The Land and Economic Affairs Authority valued the concession at €750 million excluding VAT, a figure that reflects the commercial weight of a licensed gaming site in the centre of the Belgian capital.
What Napoleon Games gains
Napoleon Games has been owned by Superbet, the Romanian gaming group, since 2021. It already runs the casino in Knokke-Heist and manages 25 arcades across Belgium, with a workforce of about 400. Adding the Brussels venue gives it a second Belgian casino and a flagship location in the country’s largest city.
For Superbet, the concession fits a pattern of consolidation across its markets. The group’s parent has spent the past two years buying up regional operators, including its acquisition of Maxbet Online in Romania, Superbet’s home market, where it holds one of the larger positions in the country’s licensed gaming sector. Bringing the Brussels casino under the same operator adds a land-based asset to a portfolio that already spans retail, arcade and online gaming.
Casinos Austria loses a flagship
The handover removes one of Casinos Austria International’s more visible Western European sites. Viage has operated the Brussels casino for 16 years, and its exit lands as the group’s home market faces its own upheaval, with Austria’s gambling monopoly set for reform under a leaked draft law that would end the state’s exclusive hold on online gaming.
City officials said the decision reflected the casino’s contribution to tourism, the local economy and cultural events, and framed the transition as continuity for a venue that serves residents and visitors. A press release described the site as a landmark the city intends to keep operating without interruption.
What happens next
Viage leaves by the end of 2026, and Napoleon Games takes over on the first day of 2027. The immediate questions are practical: how staff, gaming operations and the venue’s food, beverage and events business transfer between two operators without disrupting a site that handles more than 310,000 visitors a year. Napoleon Games has said it plans to expand the offer at the venue once the handover is complete, though it has not detailed specific investment. The terms of the 15-year concession will set what the operator owes the city and what it can do with one of Belgium’s nine Class I licences over the next decade and a half.
Source: City of Brussels
