Curacao to rein in online gambling
Curacao, which is one of the most popular licensing jurisdictions for grey and black-market online offshore operators, has agreed to significantly tighten standards in exchange for financial support from the Netherlands during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the agreement, Curacao will have to establish an independent gambling regulator, ensure that Curacao-licensed operators will conform to the rules and regulations that are prevalent in their targeted markets, and arrange that all applicable taxes and licensing fees are collected from locally licensed operators.
The new measures are scheduled to be implemented from 2021 onward.
Currently, there are over 1,000 Curacao licensed websites operated by ca. 300 licensees (Malta has ca. 800 websites across ca. 250 licensees).
Dutch casinos to reopen under strict conditions
After being closed for two weeks due to a national surge in Covid-19 infections, Dutch land-based casinos will be allowed to reopen starting November 19.
Casinos will still face significant restrictions, including a strict 30-guest limit per venue and mandatory face masks for all visitors.
GiH Webinar | Creating a compliant tech infrastructure
Don’t forget to register for the upcoming Gaming in Holland webinar “Creating a compliant infrastructure: Tech requirements for remote gaming in the Netherlands” on Wednesday, December 2, 14:00 CET.
Confirmed speakers include:
Geraldine Huijssoon, Head of Licensing, Netherlands Gambling Authority
Pieter de Boer, Advisor Inspections, Netherlands Gambling Authority
Frank Tolboom, partner at Kalff Katz & Franssen
Martin Prantner, CEO of Finnplay
Don’t miss it! Click here to register for free: https://bit.ly/3e2EE0B
Upcoming events
Events
Betting on Sports America, the largest dedicated sports betting trade show in the world, returns as a virtual event from 1 – 3 December.
The World Gaming Executive Summit will return as a virtual event from 7 – 9 December. Key themes on the agenda include AI, the future of land–based gaming, CSR, sustainable marketing, regulation updates, fantasy sports, and emerging marketing opportunities.
SiGMA Europe has moved its November event to 16 – 18 February, 2021.
ICE London 2021 will now take place 29 June – July 1, 2021, with the co-located iGB Affiliate London taking place 1 – 2 July.
iGB Live 2021 has also been moved to 28 September – 1 October, 2021, but will still take place in Amsterdam!
Webinars
Join the iGaming Next Power Hour every Friday @3pm CET for a short, compact, educational and social weekly digital gathering with some of the brightest and most connected minds of the industry.
Netherlands Gambling Authority expects 40 license applications when licensing period opens
The Netherlands Gambling Authority is expecting only 40 license applications when the Remote Gaming Act first comes into force from March 1, 2021, the regulator’s chairman, René Jansen said in an interview with Het Financieele Dagblad.
According to recently published draft licensing rules, operators must not have “actively targeted” the Dutch market for a period of at least 32 months before they are eligible to apply for an online license. As a result of this cooling-off period, several “major international operators” will not be able to immediately enter the regulated Dutch online market, Jansen added.
Operators are deemed to have actively targeted the Dutch market if they offered their services on a .nl website or (partially) in the Dutch language; advertised in Dutch broadcast or print media; made use of a domain name or visual symbols combining “typically Dutch concepts” with gambling-related indicators; or offered payment methods that are used primarily by Dutch consumers (i.e. iDEAL).
The regulated market is scheduled to open on September 1, 2021 – six months after the Remote Gaming Act enters into force. Earlier, the Dutch regulator indicated it expected to issue 90 remote licenses in total.
Other news
The Netherlands Gambling Authority has been successful in reporting Facebook groups that promote illegal lotteries to the social media platform. According to the regulator, this is the fastest way to ensure that the illegal online lotteries can no longer be effectively organized.
In anticipation of the Dutch Remote Gaming Act – which mandates a strict separation between lotteries and other forms of gambling – Nederlandse Loterij has started creating separate customer accounts for lottery products and sports betting.
GVC Group will rebrand as Entain, and pledges that 100% of its revenues will be derived from regulated markets by 2023.
The International Betting Integrity Association (IBIA) has signed a partnership with Swedish online trade association Branschföreningen för Onlinespel (BOS) to cooperate on topics of mutual interest such as the regulatory restrictions in Sweden.