Holland Casino reports revenue decreases and modest losses in FY2024 results ...and more!

Björn Fuchs to succeed Helma Lodders as VNLOK Chair

Björn Fuchs will succeed outgoing VNLOK Chair Helma Lodders from May 1, the trade association announced in a statement.

Lodders decided to not renew her contract following three and a half years at the helm of VNLOK. Björn Fuchs, current VNLOK board member and Chief Digital Officer at Fair Play Casino, was unanimously elected by the VNLOK membership to succeed Lodders.

Netherlands Gambling Authority issues incremental penalty payments to unlicensed operators

The Netherlands Gambling Authority has issued incremental penalty payments of up to €840,000 to three online operators (I, II, III) for offering unlicensed online gambling in the country.

The offending operators, Chestoption Sociedad de Responsibilidad Limitada, Starscream Limited, and Gamusoft LP, are based in Costa Rica, Santa Lucia, and the UK, respectively.

The Dutch regulator also issued a warning to locally licensed operator 711.nl after online ads for the operator were found to have appeared on websites aimed at minors, including a website providing help with primary school homework assignments.

A subsequent investigation found that the advertising campaign was handled by an external partner, and that 711 had already taken measures to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

However, 711 failed to report the matter to the Netherlands Gambling Authority in accordance with its legal obligations. Even so, a warning was deemed sufficient by the regulator.

Mindway AI partners with Hommerson Amusement

Mindway AI agreed a deal with Netherlands-licensed operator Hommerson to implement its popular GameScanner technology on Hommerson Online’s platform.

GameScanner offers real-time monitoring of player behavior and has been proven successful in detecting and preventing problematic gambling behavior.

Majority of Swedish players unable to distinguish between licensed and unlicensed online offerings

In a survey conducted in April on behalf of Swedish gambling regulator Spelinspektionen, 72% of respondents said they were unable to tell which products were licensed versus unlicensed in the market.

When asked what an important factor was when choosing a gambling operator, 42% said that holding a local license was important, up from 28% in the previous year’s survey. However, only 27% of those aged 18 to 19 said they would choose an operator based on whether they were licensed in Sweden.

Focus Gaming News highlights the Betting & Gaming Council's opposition to the “catastrophic” UK Remote Betting and Gaming Duty proposal.

Upcoming events

Gaming in Holland Conference

As always, the Gaming in Holland Conference returns to Amsterdam this summer. The 2025 edition of his event will take place June 5, 2025, at the KIT Royal Tropical Institute.

This year's speakers include Arjan Blok, CEO of Nederlandse Loterij; Renske Fikkers, Head of Market Supervision at the Netherlands Gambling Authority; Justin Franssen, Partner at Franssen Tolboom Advocaten; and Josh Hodgson, COO of H2 Gambling Capital.

With (online) gambling back on the political agenda, there will be plenty to discuss!

Early bird registration is now open. Don't miss it! Register today: https://bit.ly/GiHC2025.

Dutch Online Casino of the Year Awards

Voting for the Dutch Online Casino of the Year Awards opens May 1, 2025.

The award ceremony takes place during the Gaming in Holland networking drinks, part of the program of the annual Gaming in Holland Conference on June 5, 2025.

GiH Conference visitors are all cordially invited to attend the festivities!

Gaming in Spain Conference

Join us on June 26 in Madrid for the 2025 Gaming in Spain Conference.

The event will feature a keynote speech by Mikel Arana, Director General of Spain's national gambling regulator, DGOJ.

Besides focusing on the Spanish market, the 2025 GiS Conference will also feature several sessions dedicated to the latest developments in the most important LatAm markets.

Early bird registration is now open. Don't miss it! Register today: https://bit.ly/GiSC2025.

Other events

• SBC Summit Malta, the newly rebranded continuation to CasinoBeats Summit, will take place June 10-12, 2025, at the InterContinental in St Julian’s.

• iGB L!ve returns to ExCel London on July 2-3, 2025. Registration is now open!

Holland Casino reports revenue decreases and modest losses in FY2024 results 

Holland Casino has reported its financial results for 2024. The operator reported total gross revenue of €784m, down 4.1% year-on-year.

Land-based revenues declined 0.4% y-o-y, despite a small increase in annual visits: 5.2m (5.1m in 2023). Online revenues fell by 26.6%, which can at least be partially attributed to the introduction of deposit limits in October 2024.

Pre-tax net income fell from €31.9m in 2023 to -€1.3m in 2024.

These results illustrate that the planned increase in the gambling tax rate to 37.8% of GGR in 2026 is not sustainable, the operator said. The government should therefore reconsider the tax increase as the resulting tax burden of more than 50% of turnover cannot be realistically combined with the even more stringent player protection measures recently announced by State Secretary Teun Struycken.