Dutch court upholds player claims as operators fail to appear in court
- Gaming in Holland
- Nov 8, 2023
- 4 min read
Register now! Post-election networking drinks with special guest Fred Teeven – November 23
With the Dutch parliamentary elections taking place in just two weeks’ time, join us on Thursday, November 23 from 17:30 until 19:30 to discuss the election outcome.
With several political parties eager to further restrict the regulated gambling market and an uncertain election outcome, there will be plenty to discuss.
The informal gathering will feature Fred Teeven, former state secretary and architect of the Dutch online gambling legislation, as our special guest.
The meet-up will take place in Amsterdam.
Gaming in Holland in 2024 – Save the dates!
There will be plenty to do for the GiH Community in 2024 and we will be announcing various webinars and other events throughout the year.
The following in-person events have already been scheduled.
Join us on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, for the traditional Gaming in Holland Lunch @ICE London.
The 2024 Gaming in Holland Conference will take place on Thursday, June 6, 2024, at the KIT Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam.
Outgoing Netherlands Gambling Authority Chair, René Jansen has agreed to deliver the Conference's keynote speech.
Save the dates!
FDJ completes Premier Lotteries Ireland acquisition
French national lottery operator Française des Jeux (FDJ) has completed its acquisition of Premier Lotteries Ireland (PLI) in a deal worth €350.0m.
The purchase represents FDJ’s first venture operating a lottery outside France. FDJ adds it reflects its strategic ambition to become an international B2C operator in lottery, sports betting and online gaming.
FDJ should be considered a potential buyer of Nederlandse Loterij if the Dutch government agrees to the privatization and sale of the (mostly) state-owned operator.
Upcoming events
The following event(s) may be of interest to the GiH community.
The International Webinar Series on Gambling, organized by the Centre of Excellence in Responsible Gaming at the University of Gibraltar and the Center of Excellence in Gambling Research at Yale University School of Medicine, continues on November 13 with a webinar on international gambling policies and regulations. Assissa CEO Ynze Remmers will be among the speakers!
The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) invites you to join us on Thursday 16 November (11-12 CET) for a webinar discussion about safer gambling interactions, organized as part of the upcoming European Safer Gambling Week on 13-19 November.
Registrations for ICE and ICE VOX 2024 are now open! Join 45,000 industry peers and attend the industry’s largest B2B event between February 6-8 in London.
Kindred's annual Sustainable Gambling Conference will be held March 20, 2024, at the Kia Oval in London.
The 2024 Casino Operations Summit, which focuses on land-based casino operations, will take place April 23-25 in Amsterdam.
Dutch court upholds player claims
Online gambling company Unibet and another unnamed Malta-based operator have been ordered to pay back large sums of money to gamblers who used the sites before online betting was legalized in the Netherlands.
A group of gamblers who had lost large sums of money on the websites prior to October 2021, when online gambling was licensed in the Netherlands, had gone to court to recover their losses.
Judges have now ruled that at least two firms must pay back the players’ losses. Unibet has been told to pay one gambler €93,000 and in a separate case, the unnamed company has been told to pay back €124,000.
Neither operator mounted any defense, which caused the claimants to win by default.
In a written reaction, Unibet said that it would appeal the ruling, which means the case will be reheard at a later date.
Because both operators were located and licensed in Malta at the time, it is questionable – due to Malta's contentious Bill 55 – whether the claimants will ever be able to recover their losses.
Swedish trade association argues for return of EU oversight of online gambling sector
Gustaf Hoffstedt, General Secretary of Swedish trade association BOS, argues that the EU made a major mistake when it withdrew from exercising oversight over member states’ gambling markets.
According to Hoffstedt, the introduction of Malta's Bill 55 is a direct consequence of the EU's abdication of one of its core responsibilities:
“It is in this context that one must consider Malta’s contentious Bill 55, which aims to shield gambling companies based in the EU island state from legal proceedings in other member states.
The core EU principle of recognising and treating other member states’ authorities and courts as our own demands equal treatment and a robust EU law framework to resolve disputes.
With the EU abandoning this principle in the gambling sphere, it is hardly surprising that Malta does not automatically enforce an Austrian court’s decision to expropriate a gambling company with a Maltese gambling licence.
To enforce a foreign court’s decision, Malta must trust the EU to uphold the law on both ends, respecting a member state’s right to have its court decisions enforced and assessing whether a member state genuinely has the law on its side when requesting intervention against a gambling company with a Maltese or another EU licence.”
Other news
Dutch responsible gaming outfit Centrum voor Verantwoord Spelen has rebranded as Centrum voor Verantwoord Gokken.
Nederlandse Loterij has launched an “innovation lab” that will welcome ideas and pitches from other companies to help foster innovation.
The Danish gambling regulator announced that no fewer than 32,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 17 gambled online in the past year.
KYC solutions provider Mitek is offering a free Gartner report "Market Guide for Identity Verification.”
Lottomatica Group has announced that its subsidiary GBO SpA has agreed a deal to acquire Italian-facing operator SKS365 Malta Holdings.
Finland’s gambling monopoly Veikkaus will introduce mandatory identification checks on scratch card games from next year.
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