TOMORROW: GiH Business Drinks, The Hague
Join us on Thursday, March 17 in the Hague for the first GiH business drinks of 2022!
The event will kick off at 17:00 at the centrally located “Malietoren" building.
As always, the GiH business drinks offer an excellent opportunity to (re)connect with other gaming professionals.
Currently, we have a limited number of spots still available. If you would like to attend tomorrow's event, please let us know by sending an email to rsvp@gaminginholland.com.
Netherlands Gambling Authority issues 18th iGaming license
The Netherlands Gambling Authority has issued the Netherlands’ 18th remote gambling license to 711 BV.
711 BV appears to be owned by Belgian-licensed online casino Carousel.be. The license issued by the Dutch regulator does not cover betting or games played against other participants (e.g., poker).
At present, it is not yet known under which brand the new license holder will operate in the Netherlands.
Over 10,000 individuals registered in CRUKS national exclusion register
Since its opening on October 1, 2021, over 10,000 individuals have been registered in CRUKS, the Dutch national exclusion register, the Netherlands Gambling Authority reports.
A registration in CRUKS means that an individual will be unable to visit any land-based or online gambling venue for a period of at least six months. The vast majority of these registrations are voluntary.
UK Gambling Commission picks Allwyn as preferred bidder for National Lottery license
The UK Gambling Commission has picked Czech-owned Allwyn Entertainment Ltd. as its preferred applicant for the fourth National Lottery license.
The National Lottery is one of the world’s largest lotteries and the current - third - license is due to expire in 2024. Since launching in 1994, National Lottery players have collectively raised more than £45 billion for good causes across the UK.
Camelot, which has run the lottery since its inception in 1994, has been named as the second-choice applicant and could potentially be set for a return if Allwyn does not pass the final stages of the process.
Allwyn (formerly Sazka) is owned by Czech billionaire Karel Komárek. The chairman of Allwyn’s National Lottery bid, Sir Keith Mills, was previously instrumental in securing the London 2012 Olympics bid.
Allwyn's UK business will be headed by former Sainsbury CEO Justin King.
Upcoming events
The following events may be of interest to the GiH community.
· ICE 2022 remains confirmed for April 12-14.
· The 2022 Gaming in Holland Conference & Expo has been scheduled for June 20-21 at Jaarbeurs Utrecht.
· EASG 2022, the 13th European Conference on Gambling Studies and Policy Issues, has now been scheduled for 6 – 9 September 2022, and will take place in Oslo, Norway.
Large differences in deposit and playing time limits among Netherlands-licensed iGaming operators could create justification for political intervention
Dutch gambling regulation mandates that online players, as part of the registration process, set maximum deposit and playing time limits. However, as these limits were primarily meant to create awareness among players, no legal maximums were specified. Licensed operators, however, must also take special care that young adults, i.e., players between the ages of 18 and 23, are protected from excessive losses.
According to a recent investigation by Dutch TV program Kassa!, there currently exist major differences between the maximum deposit and playing time limits that licensed operators mandate for young adults. These can be as low as €400 per month and 8 hours per day, or as high as €100,000 per week and 24 hours per day.
At present, there appears to be a growing public and political demand to fundamentally change deposit and playing time limits from a tool to create player awareness into a tool that is supposed to offer real protections by setting low deposit and playing time limits across the board. Under such a scenario, higher deposit limits would only be allowed when players take proactive steps to prove that they can afford higher losses.
While certainly well-intentioned, the practicality of such an approach seems, however, doubtful. There are, undoubtedly, young adults for whom a €400 (or even €200) deposit limit is far too high, while a different segment of this cohort may find it (perhaps rightfully so) far too low and thus seek out unlicensed alternatives in response.
At this junction, there appears to be a real risk that political pressures could lead to counterproductive outcomes – not just for the industry, but for vulnerable players as well.
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