2025 Gaming in Holland Conference – Save the date!
The 2025 Gaming in Holland Conference will take place June 5, 2025, in Amsterdam.
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Google to introduce stricter gambling advertising policies
Google has introduced revised gambling advertising guidelines, which are set to enter into force on April 14. The new guidelines introduce stricter definitions, country-specific regulations, and expanded certification requirements.
Under the updated rules, any website that provides direct links to online gambling or facilitates gambling services will be classified as promoting gambling. Only operators licensed to operate in a specific jurisdiction and aggregator or affiliate sites that provide information about, or a comparison of, other gambling services are henceforth allowed to promote gambling.
Google is also introducing more precise country-specific restrictions instead of the previous broad reference to “country restrictions.” The updated policy will explicitly list countries where gambling advertising is banned.
However, the new guidelines do not cover organic search results, meaning that searches can still yield links to illegal offerings.
UK gambling firms secretly sharing users’ data with Facebook
Dozens of UK gambling websites are covertly tracking visitors to their websites and sending their data to Facebook’s parent company without consent in an apparent breach of data protection laws.
The information is then being used by Facebook’s owner, Meta, to profile people as gamblers and flood them with ads for casinos and betting sites.
Data privacy expert Wolfie Christl said: “Sharing data with Meta [...] without explicit informed consent shows a blatant disregard for the law. Meta is complicit and [...] benefits from facilitating problematic and unlawful data practices for its clients and systematically looks the other way.”
Belgium's new government announces modernization of gambling legislation
Belgium's newly formed federal government announced a modernization of the country's gambling legislation in its coalition agreement (p. 65).
Although specific details remain sparse, trade association BAGO has welcomed the announcement for “reinforc[ing] a strong commitment to cracking down on illegal gambling and enhancing player protection in Belgium.”
Armijn Meijer sets world record by visiting 110 casinos in 24 hours
OneTime founder Armijn Meijer has set an unofficial world record by visiting 110 Las Vegas casinos in 24 hours.
Meijer and his partner, travel specialist Dominique van der Geer managed to beat the previous record of 93 casinos in 24 hours that was set in 2023 by an American husband and wife team.
Holland Casino eliminates position of Digital Transformation Director
As part of its previously announced reorganization, Holland Casino is eliminating the position of director of digital transformation.
Jeroen Verkroost, the current director of digital transformation at Holland Casino announced the news via LinkedIn. The role of digital transformation director was originally created to oversee Holland Casino Online, as well as the operator's overall IT operations.
Dutch Council of State upholds ban on online instant lotteries
The Council of State, the Netherlands’ highest administrative court, has ruled against Nederlandse Loterij which sought to offer instant lottery products online.
The Council of State found that the Dutch Gambling Act (Wok) clearly prohibits the offering of online lottery products. While lottery tickets may be sold online, all lottery draws must take place offline.
Consequently, the Netherlands Gambling Authority was justified in rejecting Nederlandse Loterij's request to amend its instant lottery license to include the sale of online scratchcards (which could have been “scratched off” virtually), the Council of State ruled.
Other news
Entain CEO Gavin Richards has resigned after a short, five-months stint in the job. Following the news, share prices fell by double digits.
Mindway AI has joined the European Lotteries Association (EL) as an associate member.
Great Britain's gambling regulator has accidentally handed over more than 4,000 sensitive documents to lawyers acting for the media tycoon Richard Desmond in its legal battle over the 2022 National Lottery contract tender.
Slots influencer “Vegas Matt” celebrated reaching a million subscribers on YouTube by gambling $1,000,000.
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