Dutch government extends lockdown: All casinos to remain closed  Due to high Covid-19 infection rates, the Dutch government has extended the country-wide lockdown until at least February 9. All casinos and arcade halls are to remain closed until that date.   5+1 gambling predictions for 2021  Making predictions for the new year is a time-honored January tradition. While we may have dropped the ball here, others have[Read More…]

Charity lottery operator Fairshare Nederland launches new anti-loneliness initiative, partners with leading elder care and service foundations Dutch health lottery Care-a-Lot, which is operated by Fairshare Nederland, has launched a new “action platform” to raise awareness of (structural) loneliness, as well as funds to help combat this social issue. Care-a-Lot has partnered with elder care foundations Nationale Ouderenfonds and Stichting[Read More…]

Dutch government will not tax illegal gambling operators On November 17, the Dutch Lower House adopted a motion requesting the government to ensure that all operators that are active in the Netherlands – whether licensed or not – will be subject to Dutch tax legislation from January 1, 2021 onward. Last week, State Secretary of Finance Hans Vijlbrief responded, saying[Read More…]

Dutch casinos to close until January 19 As part of an extensive lockdown aimed at lowering Covid-19 infection rates, all Dutch land-based casinos will remain closed until at least January 19. The current lockdown includes schools, non-essential stores and all hospitality facilities – with the single exception of hotels. Betway joins Dutch trade association NOGA As the entry into force[Read More…]

Technical documentation on future-licensed operators’ IT systems In recent weeks, the Netherlands Gambling Authority has published technical documentation on the criteria that the IT systems of future-licensed remote operators must meet. This includes the draft framework for the inspection and certification of the gaming systems of future-licensed online operators, as well as the technical specifications of the Control Database. We[Read More…]

Dutch administrative appeals court upholds Staatsloterij-De Lotto merger The Netherlands’ highest court for business and competition-related matters (College van beroep voor het bedrijfsleven) has rejected the appeal against the Dutch competition authority’s approval of the 2016 merger of the Dutch State Lottery and sports betting monopolist De Lotto. The court found that the merger would be unlikely to lead to[Read More…]

Netherlands Gambling Authority imposes penalty payments on EA over loot boxes A ruling by the District Court in The Hague that loot boxes in the popular FIFA video game constitute a form of unlicensed gambling has given the green light to the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) to impose an order subject to penalty paymentsof up to €5m against FIFA’s publisher[Read More…]