Final versions of Remote Gaming Act secondary legislation published
Following the publication of the Dutch Council of State's advice on the secondary legislation that is to accompany the country's Remote Gaming Act, the final versions of said secondary legislation have now also been published (AMvB here, and MR here).
In its advice, the Council of State highlighted that the secondary regulation, in some respects, is extremely detailed and comes with significant administrative burdens for smaller operators in particular. This significantly decreases he attractiveness of the regulated market and is likely to endanger the market channelization ambitions that underly the primary legislation. The Council thus advises to reconsider some of the more burdensome rules and regulations.
Also noteworthy is that the Council found that the practicability of instigating enforcement measures against unlicensed operators that are based abroad is limited, and therefore asks the government to consider strengthening the abilities of the Netherlands Gambling Authority to introduce effective enforcement measures against black market operators.
Despite the, at times, critical tone of the Council of State's advice, the changes in the final versions of the draft secondary legislation appear, at first sight, to be fairly minimal.
Dutch government extends lockdown: All land-based casinos to remain closed until March 2
Due to ongoing high Covid-19 infection rates, the Dutch government has extended the country-wide lockdown until at least March 2. All casinos and arcade halls are to remain closed until that date.
EGBA: Post-Brexit data flows remain concern for online gambling firms
The regulation of online data flows between the EU and UK remains a prime concern for Europe's online gaming industry, says the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA).
Maarten Haijer, EGBA Secretary General: “At this stage, we consider the most concerning outstanding issue with Brexit to be the question of cross-border data flows, given the vast amounts of data used in the online gambling sector and the many companies which have operations in both the EU and UK. Without a long-term agreement which secures the smooth flow of data, online gambling companies who operate in both jurisdictions would need to decide, among other things, where best to locate their data hubs to ensure as little disruption as possible to their everyday operations.”
The Netherlands Gambling Authority recently announced it would be “understanding” if future licensed online operators would be unable to immediately locate their electronic means inside the EU.
UK Gambling Commission announces new measures to protect online slot players The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) has announced a new package of measures to strengthen the protection of online slot players. The new measures are designed to make online casino games “less intensive, safer by design and hand players more control over their gambling.”
“Slot games have by far the highest average losses per player of online gambling products,” the UKGC further clarified.
The new measures include outright bans on the following features:
Features that speed up play or give the illusion of control over the outcome.
Slot spin speeds faster than 2.5 seconds.
Auto-play - which can lead to players losing track of their play.
Sounds or imagery which give the illusion of a win when the return is in fact equal to, or below, a stake.
Other changes include:
Operators must clearly display to the player their total losses or wins and time played during any online slots session.
Alongside the changes for online slots the Commission has also introduced a permanent ban on reverse withdrawals for all online gambling – this function previously allowed consumers to re-gamble money they had previously requested to withdraw.
The new measures will need to be fully implemented by online operators by 31 October 2021.
Upcoming events The following events may be of interest to the GiH community. Events
SiGMA Europe has been rescheduled to 13 – 15 April, 2021.
The third edition of CasinoBeats Summit will return to Malta from May 18 – 20, 2021, as part of Spring iGaming Week organized in partnership with KPMG and Gaming Malta.
The Betting on Sports America conference and expo has been scheduled for 8 – 10 June, 2021 and will bring together all the major players in the fast-growing North American sports betting industry.
iGB Live 2021 has also been moved to 28 September – 1 October, 2021, but will still take place in Amsterdam!
The World Gaming Executive Summit is returning live on 6 – 8 December, 2021 at the W Hotel, Barcelona.
ICE London and iGB Affiliate London have been postponed to 1 – 3 February, 2022.
Webinars and virtual events
Mindway AI has published an on-demand webinar on player profiling and efficient responsible gaming interventions.
Sportradar, the global provider of sports betting services, announced the launch of Sportradar Connect, a new curated event series. The first session, on 23 February, 2021, will feature Ted Leonsis, founder, chairman, principal partner and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment in Washington DC.
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.
GiH webinars | Meeting your pre-application requirements
We have updated our webinar schedule for the coming weeks with new topics and dates. Please note: this new schedule replaces the save the date we sent out last week.
Starting February 17, Gaming in Holland will launch a four-part webinar series focusing on the pre-application requirements prospective remote licensees will have to meet in order to be able to submit a successful license application and prepare for a profitable market launch.
Tune in every Wednesday at 3PM CET to learn more!
February 17, 3PM CET: “Sneak preview: Online Gaming Management Masterclass - NL Focus”
A successful market entry requires more than a solid business case. If you want to outperform your competition, you will need practical and hands-on knowledge. The “Online Gaming Management Masterclass - NL Focus” by former Totally Gaming Academy trainers Jason “Wolf” Rosenberg and Itsik Akiva has been designed to meet this need. Regardless of whether you decide to participate in this course, this sneak preview will provide you with useful and effective information on the online gaming economy, revenue generation, bonus management, player acquisition & retention, product management, as well as planning your next steps.
Speakers: Jason “Wolf” Rosenberg and Itsik Akiva
February 24, 3PM CET: “Outsourcing requirements for operators and third-party suppliers”
The new Dutch online gambling regulations will impose strict obligations on third-party suppliers of certain products and services to licensed operators. In this webinar, we will look at the legal obligations and requirements and what these will mean for both operators and suppliers.
Speakers: leading Dutch gambling lawyers (Kalff Katz & Franssen) and Peter-Paul de Goeij (Nederlandse Online Gambling Associatie - NOGA)
March 3, 3PM CET: “Necessary services: How & where to get them”
The Dutch online gaming regulatory framework places far-reaching obligations on licensed operators, for instance regarding customer onboarding & ID verification, data hosting, local responsible gaming representatives, and much more. If you want to enter the regulated Dutch online market, you will need to find suppliers whose products and services meet the stringent criteria of the Netherlands Gambling Authority. In this webinar, several suppliers of necessary services will showcase their products. If you haven't yet found all the suppliers that you will need, this may be the webinar for you!
Speakers: TBA
March 10, 3 PM CET: “Responsible gaming for licensed operators: Obligations, implementation, and technical solutions”
The Dutch Remote Gaming Act establishes a wide range of responsible gaming (RG) obligations for licensed operators, including a local RG representative, as well as mandated contacts with addiction care professionals and experiential experts. In this webinar, we will look at these legal obligations in detail and consider avenues for practical implementation and technical solutions.
Speakers: leading Dutch gambling lawyers (Kalff Katz & Franssen) and Pieter Remmers (Assissa)
Other news
The Den Bosch Court of Appeal has upheld an additional tax assessment of €13.5m against the owners of online gaming enterprise Teletick BV.
Fake ads showing imagery and logos belonging to Holland Casino and Jack's Casino are increasingly prevalent on social media such as Instagram and Facebook. The advertisements redirect users to illegal online offerings.
Amp.Amsterdam has become the official music & audio partner for the Nederlandse Loterij.
Belgium has reduced the maximum number of online sports betting licenses permitted from 34 to 31. Currently, there are 24 active licensees.
Mr Vegas has become the 100th operator to secure an online gambling license in Sweden since the country launched its regulated market in January 2019.
Mindway AI has joined forces with Proto to improve its responsible gaming interventions through virtual agents.
French gambling regulator L’Autorité nationale des jeux (ANJ) has set out a new, five-pillar strategy that will guide its approach to overseeing the market over the next three years.
White Hat Gaming has paid a regulatory settlement worth £1.3m after the UK Gambling Commission identified failings in the operator’s AML and problem gambling procedures.
According to the latest estimations, Americans will legally wager more than $500 million on Super Bowl LV across all regulated US markets, representing a substantial uptick from the estimated $300 million in 2020.