No follow-up from Netherlands Gambling Authority after Stake F1 disregards regulator's summons
Last week, the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) called on the organizers of the Dutch Grand Prix and Team Sauber to refrain from promoting illegal games of chance during the race. Team Sauber is sponsored by online operator Stake, which is not licensed to operate in the Netherlands.
Team Sauber, however, disregarded the summons, claiming that displaying Stake branding would not violate Dutch gambling legislation.
The Dutch regulator subsequently confirmed that no laws were broken and that there would be no follow-up. “Under current legislation, it is not possible to take enforcement action, because any violation must concern offerings that are ‘available in the Netherlands,'" a KSA spokesperson said. At present, Stake does not accept players from the Netherlands.
The Dutch regulator further indicated that it would prefer a blanket ban on all advertising of unlicensed gambling offerings, regardless of availability, and that it would raise this issue during the upcoming evaluation of the Remote Gambling Act. “In the meantime, we will continue to remind relevant parties of their social responsibility,” the KSA spokesperson added.
In related news, the Dutch regulator was more successful in convincing two local influencers to remove a YouTube video containing illegal gambling advertising.
LiveScore CEO questions direction of the Dutch iGaming market
LiveScore Group chief executive Sam Sadi told iGB that overregulation threatens the viability of the regulated iGaming markets and that his company might not have entered the Dutch market under its current regulatory regime:
“Single-digit market share owner operators are on the brink of being exited from the [Dutch] market due to regulation,” he says. Each additional layer of compliance brings its own additional costs and Sadi believes the current business model is becoming too expensive for mid-tier operators to navigate.
“Making decisions to enter a market relies on complex models towards investment and, at some point, reaching profitability. If the fundamentals change over time, you need to revisit and refinance your business and question whether there is long-term viability in the market,” Sadi says.
“The most damaging regulatory environment is one that is full of uncertainty.”
New AI-based tool shows double-digit growth of Dutch iGaming market
Blask, a new AI-based market analytics tool designed to provide insights in local iGaming markets, has shown a 13.1% y-o-y increase in Dutch eGGR during H1 2024.
The number of Estimated First Time Depositors – new players making their first deposit on an iGaming platform – grew a more modest 3.5% to 1.3m in H1 2024.
Surprisingly, Blask identifies TOTO as the Dutch online market leader with a 19.81% market share, followed by BetCity (15.90%) and Unibet (15.35%).
These figures, however, should be treated with significant caution, as data for the Netherlands is still labelled as “incomplete” within the Blask platform.
In particular, the number of first-time depositors in H1 2024 of 1.3m (or more than 7% of the Netherlands’ total population) appears to be a substantial overestimate. In comparison, the Netherlands Gambling Authority recorded c. 740,000 new accounts (not players) in H2 2023.
It is extremely unlikely that illegal market growth could be responsible for such a marked increase in player activity.
Upcoming events
The following event(s) may be of interest to the GiH community.
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.
Over 5,000 operators are expected to attend this year's SBC Summit in Lisbon from September 24-26.
The 2024 Gaming in Germany Conference returns to Berlin on November 5, 2024. Save the date!
Proposed gambling tax increase and Holland Casino pushback cause turmoil
The new government's proposals to increase the gambling tax rate from 30.5% to 37.8% of GGR continue to cause turmoil in the Netherlands.
The employee councils of the Netherlands’ largest land-based casino operators, Fair Play Casino, Holland Casino, Novomatic, and JVH gaming & entertainment Group have sent a letter to several government members warning of the disastrous impact of the proposed tax increase on the economic viability of the land-based market.
Some online operators are already lowering the RTP percentage of their slot games to less than 93%. Others are likely to follow, which would have a significant negative impact on the attractiveness of legal offerings.
Last week, Holland Casino CEO, Petra de Ruiter warned that the proposed tax increase would necessitate Holland Casino to engage in “aggressive” marketing campaigns to stay profitable, something that she herself called “irresponsible” and “unacceptable to Holland Casino.”
Despite her clearly stated reservations, de Ruiter's remarks caused a stir among, in particular, Christian parties, representatives of which have now reacted by submitting parliamentary questions. While these questions clearly express opposition to additional advertising by Holland Casino, no solution is offered to the operator's looming economic difficulties.
Mirjam Bikker, chair of the CU political group, also appeared in a radio show, during which she suggested that Holland Casino could conceivably return to profitability by staying closed on Sundays.
The lack of any serious political response to the alarms raised by the Netherlands’ regulated gambling industry should, at the very least, give pause to the more responsible parties within the current government.
Other news
Intralot has extended its contract with Nederlandse Loterij to provide operations and management services to NLO's retail sportsbook brand TOTO until June 2027.
Austria's Supreme Court has ordered Betclic Everest subsidiary Bet-at-home to pay €2.8m in player losses nearly three years after it withdrew from the market.
Online casino expansion in the US market appears to have stalled.
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