Parliamentary roundtable: Ksa outlines illegal market risks ...and more!

Nederlandse Loterij launches civil suit against Costa Rica-based operator

Nederlandse Loterij has launched a civil suit in Dutch court against Costa Rica-based online operator Lalabet and its directors.

In its suit, Nederlandse Loterij demands that Lalabet ceases its unsanctioned operations in the Netherlands, as well as compensation for lost earnings due to illegal competition.

Asked to comment on the news, Nederlandse Loterij spokesperson Tonny Dijkhuizen said that the suit was “not about the money,” but rather an attempt to hold one of the leading illegal online operators in the Netherlands accountable. “Our ultimate aim is to protect Dutch consumers,” Dijkhuizen added.

Asked whether he expected Lalabet to defend itself in a Dutch court, Dijkhuizen said that “time will tell.”

The news about Nederlandse Loterij broke on the same day that its CEO, Arjan Blok appeared before a parliamentary committee (see below), where he pleaded for stronger enforcement measures against illegal online operators.

Upcoming events

Leaders in Compliance Conference

Don't miss the Leaders in Compliance Conference, which will take place May 8-9, 2025, at the Hilton Frankfurt Airport Hotel.

With compliance becoming ever more important in regulated markets, a high-level, Europe-focused event specifically dedicated to compliance-related topics is long overdue.

Confirmed speakers include Dr. Birgit Bosch, Director of Group Compliance at Tipico; Ewout Keuleers, General Counsel at Unibet; and Corinne Valletta, General Counsel Betsson Operations.

Early bird registration is now open: https://bit.ly/LiC2025. Don't miss it!

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: https://bit.ly/GiHC2025.

Sponsored content

Ready to invest in the further professionalization of your (i)Gaming organization? The Gaming Operations Academy offers a wide range of courses – including free trial workshops – in areas such as compliance, AML, and data protection.

Parliamentary roundtable: Ksa outlines illegal market risks

Yesterday, the Permanent Committee for Justice and Security of the Dutch Lower House hosted a roundtable discussion on gambling policy. A full recording of the discussion is available here.

Various stakeholders, including the regulator, operators, trade bodies, addiction experts, and others have been invited to participate in the discussion. All invitees shared position papers in advance of the roundtable discussion, which are available here.

Stakeholder positions

The positions shared by the various participants were, for the most part, predictable.

Operators stressed that a further increase in the gambling tax rate would threaten the economic viability of the sector and that additional regulatory restrictions are significantly contributing to the ongoing growth of the black market.

Addiction care specialists pointed to the dangers associated with gambling and pleaded for even more restrictions on legal offers. Rather than listening to the industry, policy makers should listen to “science” (which, in this case, did not appear to include economics, criminology, or anything else besides these experts’ particular disciplines).

More interesting was the contribution by former gambling addict and experiential expert, Marco Smit, who told the Committee that problem gamblers tend to seek out the path of least resistance, meaning that additional restrictions on legal offers are of limited value if there exists an easily accessible illegal market.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Netherlands Gambling Authority (Ksa), through its chair, Michel Groothuizen, argued that while the legal market has its shortcomings, it is a “saintly” place compared to the illegal market.

Groothuizen also expressed his concern about the regulator's recent findings that online market channelization in terms of GGR has recently fallen below 50%. According to Groothuizen, this development is a meaningful threat to the economic viability of the regulated market.

Increasing the minimum age for high-risk games of chance to 21 could have a positive effect on player protection, Groothuizen further said, but such a measure would also carry a very real risk that young adult players would migrate to a far more dangerous black market.

Regarding cross-operator deposit limits, Groothuizen expressed faith in their technical feasibility, but also warned that these cross-operator limits should in any case not be lower than the current per-operator limits of €700 per month (€300 for young adults).

Political attitudes

The questioning of the invitees by the participating MPs also revealed a stark dichotomy between the political groups susceptible to the argument that the gambling sector is being overtaxed and overregulated (PVV, VVD) and those that would prefer to outright reverse the legalization of online gambling (NSC, CDA, SP, CU).

In between, there exists a swing vote that, while certainly eager to embrace additional player protection measures, also wants a viable regulated market.

At present, as there is no parliamentary majority in favor of undoing the legislation of online gambling, the main question is to what extent the swing vote – most notably GroenLinks-PvdA and D66 – has been convinced by operator testimony and the warnings of the Netherlands Gambling Authority that the legal market must remain viable vis-à-vis its much more unpleasant illegal alternatives.

More will become clear at next week's follow-up debate.