GiH Webinar report | Making sense of the new Dutch online gambling advertising restrictions
Last month, the Dutch government announced new restrictions banning all “untargeted” advertising for online gambling services. These restrictions, which will enter into force on July 1, are meant to protect vulnerable players, including minors and young adults under 24 years of age.
During yesterday's GiH webinar “Making sense of the new Dutch online gambling advertising restrictions” two expert speakers, Dr. Alan Littler, gaming lawyer at Kalff Katz & Franssen and Peter-Paul de Goeij, Managing Director of the Netherlands Online Gambling Association (NOGA), shared their thoughts on the recently adopted decree.
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Netherlands Gambling Authority: “Illegal gambling must not be profitable”
Netherlands Gambling Authority Chair, René Jansen has written a personal blog post arguing – unsurprisingly – that illegal gambling should not be profitable. Thus, the Dutch regulator promises to step up its enforcement efforts against illegal online offerings.
However, Jansen also stressed that enforcement action is necessary to ensure that licensed offerings can be profitable in a tightly regulated market.
With new and significant advertising restrictions looming, Jansen's message may be intended to assure licensed operators that strong action will be taken against black-market competitors.
To what extent this enforcement action will have notable effects remains to be seen. At present, Netherlands-facing affiliates and search engine ads promoting illegal offerings are still frequently and easily encountered.
Upcoming events
The following event(s) may be of interest to the GiH community.
The 2023 Gaming in Germany Conference has been scheduled to take place October 16, 2023, in Berlin. Additional details will follow soon. Don't miss it. Save the date!
Nederlandse Loterij more than doubled gross turnover in 2022
Nederlandse Loterij has achieved a total turnover of over €6.50bn in 2022 – up from €2.99bn in the previous year, according to the operator's latest annual report.
Nederlandse Loterij, which is mostly state-owned, operates several lotteries, including the Dutch State Lottery, as well as TOTO Online, one of the Netherlands’ leading online brands.
Lottery GGR (and related remittances to the Dutch state, sports, and good causes) saw – overall – modest growth.
However, the operator's online division, TOTO Online, recorded a sharp increase in GGR: €219m in 2022, compared to €65m in 2021. Nederlandse Loterij's overall GGR increased from €536m (2021) to €691m (2022).
With the growing importance of its online activities, the operator's RTP dramatically increased from 68.4% in 2020 to 89.6% in 2022.
In related news, the Permanent Committee for Finance of the Dutch Lower House will debate the future of current state holdings on June 1. We expect that the possible privatization of Nederlandse Loterij – and potentially Holland Casino as well – will be on this meeting's agenda.
Other news
Holland Casino is expected to decide on the new location of its Groningen venue in the coming weeks.
Belgian gambling operator Napoleon has decided to fight the country's recently adopted gambling advertising ban in court.
Testing outfit Trisigma has appointed Sander Hoogendoorn as its new Business Development Manager.
Sweden’s Supreme Administrative Court has ruled that gambling-related fines are to be based on GGR rather than gross revenue.
The Higher Administrative Court of the State of Saxony-Anhalt has confirmed that the German regulator GGL has the power to prohibit licensed gambling operators from advertising on affiliate marketing sites featuring illegal offerings.