Tomorrow (19 March), the government will host a round-table discussion on its proposals for new gambling policy. This will feature input from various stakeholders including a number of licensed operators, trade bodies and regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA).
Teun Struycken, minister for legal protection in the Netherlands, revealed in December that the government was working on new policy, with hopes of having a new gambling bill in place by the end of 2025.
In their submission, the industry trade bodies VNLOK and NOGA set out several key points for the government to consider before signing off on new laws. Much of these focus on protecting players from harm and on tackling unlicensed activity.
Advertising must remain for legal operators
Among the recommendations was a request for the government to reject any plans for a complete ban on gambling advertising. Struycken has already said advertising rules will be put in place to “severely limit” the appeal of online gambling.
The Netherlands already has a ban in place for most forms of advertising, with this effective since mid-2023. However, research from KSA has found that since this was introduced, there has been a decline – between 50% and 75% – in the number of monthly visits to legal sites,
As such, VNLOK and NOGA are urging “sufficient” advertising opportunities for licensees to help players to distinguish between legal and illegal operators.
“Players must know where they can find legal offers to prevent further growth of illegality,” VNLOK and NOGA said. “Legal providers must be able to advertise in a targeted and responsible manner.”
Also on the subject of advertising, VNLOK and NOGA are urging the government to expand regulations to cover social media. The organisation is keen for the KSA to have increased power to take action against sites that illegally target players on social media platforms.
In addition, the bodies want to make it possible for licensees to access the Cruks self-exclusion scheme to ensure players who have registered do not receive any gambling advertising.
Calls for more effective use of Cruks
Also in relation to Cruks, the organisations made several recommendations to improve the current setup. While they recognise Cruks has proven successful since its introduction when the legal market opened in 2021, they believe there is room for improvement.
VNLOK and NOGA said new policy should set out the need for operators to provide aftercare to players who return to gambling after a Cruks exclusion. This will ensure more responsible play in the long term.
Operators should also be offering more assistance for users to sign up to Cruks, according to VNLOK and NOGA, to help them access help. This includes highlighting to players how Cruks only halts access to legal sites and that other blocking methods are required to extend this to sites without a licence.
Stopping the illegal supply of gambling
Leading on from this, VNLOK and NOGA set out additional steps to help tackle illegal operators active in the Netherlands. Again, these include increasing the powers available to the regulator.
“KSA must take tougher action against parties that promote illegal supply, such as banks, advertising platforms and suppliers of gambling games and live casinos,” VNLOK and NOGA said. “The current powers of KSA must be expanded to make the approach to illegality more effective.”
On this, the organisations are calling for the government to set up a new task force focused on illegal gambling. This will include drawing up an action plan on how to best tackle the current situation.
Second, they are urging a rethink of the planned increase in gambling tax. Confirmed last September, this is set to be introduced on a phased basis, despite warnings from several sectors as to how such a move could impact the legal market.
In addition, both VNLOK and NOGA are calling for more research into the proposal to raise the minimum betting age to 21. The proposal, set out by Struycken, would apply to “risky” games such as online slots.
The organisations are keen for the government to investigate the expected effectiveness and possible undesirable side effects of this measure. This should also include the experiences of minors, a group the bodies say has been unfairly ignored in recent years.
VNLOK chairwoman Helma Lodders will present the organisations’ recommendations at the roundtable tomorrow.
