In the Netherlands, the opposition parties are proposing stricter regulations on the online gambling industry, with an emphasis on limiting gross revenues from online gambling.
Leaders of the ChristenUnie party and the Socialist Party, Mirjam Bikker and Sarah Dobbe, claim that as the country’s regulated online gambling market has grown since 2021, so has the rise in the number of people experiencing gambling-related issues.
The opposition also provided evidence that since the introduction of regulations that made online gambling legal and allowed for online casinos to operate legally, an additional 450,000 new players are now active in the indoor gambling market. The opposition also highlighted that young adults, aged 18-21, now represent approximately 22% of all gamblers in the Netherlands.
Bikker said:
The slot machine is now literally in your pocket and in shopping streets you see gambling ads everywhere. It is time for a complete advertising ban.
Bikker and Dobbe are actively advocating for a complete ban on the advertising of online gambling and are also working to make changes to the self-exclusion system in the Netherlands known as Cruks. One of the important changes proposed is to lengthen the minimum duration of exclusion from six months to one year.
They have also called for the KSA (the national gaming authority in the Netherlands) to have more power to impose fines on operators. Currently KSA can only fine an operator up to 10% of their annual income; however, under the proposed change they would be allowed to fine an operator 100% of their annual revenue.
This proposal comes only days after KSA imposed a record fine of €25 million against Novatech for marketing illegal services to Dutch customers.
Following that case, KSA Chairman Michel Groothuizen commented:
A fine of €24m sounds impressive, but without the maximum of 10% the fine would have come to more than €100m; an amount that would be better suited to this violation.
Questions still exist with enforcing penalties once an increase is made, especially when offshore operators are an issue. A prime example of this is the Novatech case, where they relinquished their Curaçao license shortly after receiving the adverse ruling, which significantly reduced the ability of the regulator to take action against Novatech.
The current discussions with respect to player protection and effective regulation in the Netherlands are proceeding apace as a consequence of the continuing implementation of the Remote Gaming Act Changes that were enacted in 2022.
In light of the newly established government being formed as a result of the snap elections that occurred last October, there will likely be additional changes to Dutch gambling before year-end.
