Online Gambling Delayed by Six Months in the Netherlands

The Netherlands has announced that the planned launch of online gambling in the country is being put back by six months. The new date for the anticipated start will now be 1 July 2021 to give the country enough time to pass and vet applications from operators.

According to the Sander Dekker, Minister of Justice and Security, the reason for the delay is due to the proposed changes made to Remote Gambling Act which means it won’t come into force until 1 January 2021. As this is six months later than originally expected, the secondary legislation around licensing has been delayed by the same length of time.

Verification process

The regulator in the Netherlands, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), had previously announced that no gambling company would be able to apply for a licence under the new legislation until it has been formally enacted. It also said that it needs six months to process and check any applications. As the release date for the Remote Gambling Act has been pushed back by six months, the regulator has insisted that the launch date for operational play is delayed too.

Part of this process will include checking that each operator has a robust age-verification system in place. The minister said that underage gamblers had in the past been able to access state-run sports betting without a problem and he was concerned that the issue may be repeated with other online betting.

The Nederlandse Loterij has since upgraded its processes to block younger gamblers and Dekker said they expect other gambling operators to do the same, or else face sanctions.

A pro-gambling government

It wasn’t all negative news for the gambling industry however as Dekker insisted that preventing gambling advertisements was not on the government’s agenda. Some legislators had been renewing their calls for a total ban but the minister said that was not an “objective of the current Dutch gambling policy”.

Dekker said there was evidence that restricting gambling advertisements could have a negative impact on those who play, as it would remove the ability to channel individuals towards locally licensed sites which are robustly checked and supervised. Without the ability to monitor, implement and drive responsible gambling initiatives in the same way, this could lead to more problem gambling .

The minister admitted that they may consider tightening existing gambling rules in certain areas. The legislation they may toughen up includes introducing a time limit on advertising through certain types of media, stopping behaviour targeting and restricting credits for free play or other bonus offers. Celebrity endorsements are also likely to be overhauled, particularly those who may have a strong appeal to younger players.