Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) Chair Michel Groothuizen has promised tough action against any licensee that violates its advertising regulations in the Netherlands gambling market.
Published on the Dutch Gaming Authority’s website, Groothuizen’s speech to the online industry was delivered at the Annual Gaming Industry Event at the Koninklijke Industrieele Groote Club in Amsterdam.
During the speech, the KSA Chair highlighted the authority’s recently published Supervisory Agenda for 2025 and its key points of focus being advertising compliance, minors and young adults, duty of care supervision and combating the illegal market.
For advertising, Groothuizen emphasised that the authority is going to be tougher on those who look to “push the boundaries” and that one licence holder has already received a hefty fine this year, although that licensee was not named.
“We’re going to crack down harder on parties that push the boundaries again and have also imposed a hefty fine on a license holder that will probably be made public one of these days,” said the KSA Chair.
“Don’t get me wrong, there are also parties that play by the rules. As far as I’m concerned, this underscores that the time for tolerance has passed. The rules for operators to follow are now sufficiently clear.”
For minors and young adults, Groothuizen noted that the focus will be more on prevention and education, in addition to a market-wide survey examining the registration process to see if the rules around online registration need to be adjusted.
Regarding the duty of care, the KSA Chair stated that the duty of care online department established last year has already had several conversations with operators about standards, with practices being adjusted immediately after these conversations.
Groothuizen said: “That’s also what I want to focus on more: directly addressing undesirable behaviour in order to end this as quickly as possible. We want a constructive collaborative relationship, especially with our license holders.
“That includes clearly showing what we think compliant behaviour should look like and dedication on your side. If you feel we’re asking for something extremely unreasonable, we’d like to hear that too, of course.”
The authority added that this approach is having the desired effect so it will be continued into 2025, with clarification on the implementation of the existing duty of care regulations also being issued to land-based operators.
The KSA Chair noted: “I’d like to emphasize here that compliance with the duty of care is a priority because we still see far too much going wrong here. This is also one of the main conclusions from last year’s evaluation of the Remote Betting and Gambling Act. Despite all the problems you’re already facing as a sector, you’ll really need to step up your game here.”
As for combating the illegal market, Groothuizen stated that he hears the concerns about its growth, but added that the task is too big for the KSA to tackle on its own and that cooperation is necessary.
“We’re intensifying cooperation with other regulators, and I intend to look at concerted action in enforcement with my international colleagues. And when I talk about joining forces, that includes you.
“I believe we share an interest here, so keep informing us about abuses and bad actors. You often know more than we do. You are aware of what goes on in practice. As our recent and incredibly valuable conversations have already shown, we’re stronger when we stand together.”
