Dutch Banks' Association refuse role in player monitoring
The Dutch Association of Banks (Nederlandse Vereniging van Banken) has declined a role in monitoring bank transactions to improve player protection. According to the association, this would violate the privacy of the banks’ accountholders.
Dutch MPs previously proposed that banks would monitor transactions between their customers and gambling operators as an interim solution until cross-operator deposit limits could be implemented.
Netherlands Gambling Authority imposes binding instruction on hosting provider
The Netherlands Gambling Authority has imposed a binding instruction on hosting provider DigitalOcean, instructing the company to cease and desist its services in conjunction with the illegal affiliate websites casinozonderregistratie.net and nieuw-casinos.net.
DigitalOcean has four weeks to comply with the binding instruction or face conditional penalty payments or fines.
In related news, the Dutch regulator has signed an agreement with tech services provider Cloudflare to tackle illegal gambling after initially imposing binding instructions on the company in relation to two illegal affiliate websites, nederlandscasinos.net and onlinecasinosspelen.com.
After it became clear that Cloudflare was technically unable to follow the regulator's directives, the binding instructions were withdrawn and replaced with a cooperation agreement.
Netherlands Gambling Authority extends contract with organization behind Loket Kansspel
The Netherlands Gambling Authority has extended its contract with Hands 24x7, the implementing organization behind the Netherlands’ national gambling helpline, Loket Kansspel,
“The Netherlands Gambling Authority has noticed that the added value of Loket is widely recognized. Hands 24x7's counsellors are skilled and motivated,” the regulator said in a news release.
Not all operators follow mandatory payout rules
Not all Netherlands-licensed online gambling operators follow the payout rules mandated by the Dutch regulator, an investigation by Meneer Casino found.
Recently, the Netherlands Gambling Authority clarified that operators are not allowed to create any barriers that could hamper player withdrawals, such as minimum payout amounts or wagering conditions.
Although most licensed casinos now apply minimum payout amounts of €0.01 (or €1), a significant number still apply minimum withdrawal amounts of €10 or even €20.
There are also operators, such as Casino 777, BetNation, ComeOn, and ZEbet, that require that players wager a certain percentage (in some cases up to 100%) of their deposits before any withdrawal can be made.
Reminder: Gaming in Holland to co-host regulatory sessions at 2024 Casino Operations Summit
On Tuesday, April 23, 2024, Gaming in Holland will be co-hosting several regulatory-themed sessions at the upcoming Casino Operations Summit in Amsterdam.
In these sessions, we will take a deeper look at the current state of the Dutch land-based market and identify areas in particular need of regulatory modernization.
Confirmed speakers include:
René Jansen, Chair, Netherlands Gambling Authority
Jason Frost, President, Euromat
Petra de Ruiter, CEO, Holland Casino
Henry Meijdam, Chair, VAN Kansspelen
Einar Waegemaekers, Managing Partner, Reac
Alan Littler, Gaming Lawyer, Kalff Katz & Franssen
The Gaming in Holland sessions are exclusively available to representatives of Netherlands-licensed operators or their suppliers. If you would like to attend, please register for the 2024 Casino Operations Summit.
GiH partners and sponsors have free access to this part of the Casino Operations Summit's program. Please email Lucien Wijsman at Registrations@CasinoOperationsSummit.net for more details.
Upcoming events
The following event(s) may be of interest to the GiH community.
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.
The 2024 Gaming in Spain Conference returns to Madrid on May 6, 2024.
Dutch game supplier Eurocoin Gaming will hold open house on May 15-16 in Waalwijk. Trade association VAN Kansspelen will hold its spring General Members’ Meeting on May 16 at the same location.
The 2024 Gaming in Holland Conference, which is scheduled for June 6, 2024, will feature Netherlands Gambling Authority Chair, René Jansen and Kindred CEO, Nils Andén as conference keynote speakers.
The 14th European Conference on Gambling Studies and Policy Issues, organized by the European Association for the Study of Gambling (EASG), will be held September 10-13, 2024, in Rome, Italy.
The 2024 Gaming in Germany Conference returns to Berlin on November 5, 2024. Save the date!
Dutch online GGR up 28% in 2023
Netherlands-licensed online operators recorded gross gaming revenue (GGR) of €1.39bn in 2023, up 28% compared to the previous year, according to the Netherlands Gambling Authority's sixth monitoring report on the country's online market.
In the last six months of 2023, however, GGR increased just slightly by 1% compared to the first half of the year.
The number of active accounts grew to 1.1 million, although only a third of all accounts are used in any given month. In the second half of 2023, there were approximately 726,000 active players.
During H2 2023, active players lost, on average, €160 per month. Players between 18 and 23 lost, on average, significantly less: €52 per month.
In December 2023, some 90% of players only gambled via legal websites, down from 93% in June 2023.
Trade associations NOGA and VNLOK both expressed concern that the market's slowing growth, as well as the (slight) decrease in player channelization rate, could be indicative of the increasing attractiveness of illegal alternatives compared to the legal market.
Other news
The Netherlands Gambling Authority is reportedly reflecting on the permissibility of displaying the .nl extension in operators’ logos.
The public consultation on the Netherlands Gambling Authority's proposed responsible gambling policy is now closed. All public responses are available here.
Spain's far-reaching gambling advertising restrictions have been found to be invalid on procedural grounds.
The Federal Court of Justice of Germany, the country's highest civil court, will soon hear a case on reimbursing losses for players with unregulated operators. The court's ruling is likely to set a national precedent.
On Monday, Entain recorded its highest share price in a month, after rumors of a buyout of the company broke heading into the week.
Comments