Unlicensed online gambling has never been among the activities tolerated by Kansspelautoriteit, Marja Appelman, CEO of the Dutch Gaming Authority, said in an interview published on the regulatory body’s official website.
In a new factsheet, presented by the regulator on Monday, August 28, Ms. Appelman answered questions about the responsibilities of Kansspelautoriteit and also about the Authority’s stance on the provision of unlicensed online gaming and sports betting services within the Netherlands’ borders.
Kansspelautoriteit was established in 2012 as an independent regulatory body and has since then been tasked with monitoring and regulating the country’s gambling industry, with issuing licenses to eligible operators, and with sanctioning violators of the country’s gambling laws. All these tasks and responsibilities were explained in greater detail in the recently uploaded factsheet.
Kansspelautoriteit’s Stance on Online Gambling
Online gambling and the state of the sector in the Netherlands was one of the topics discussed broadly by Ms. Appelman in the factsheet. The gambling official emphasized on the fact that iGaming is currently illegal in the country and that the Dutch Gaming Authority has always been staunchly opposed to the unlicensed, and therefore illegal, provision of iGaming services to local players.
Thus, the recent introduction of a new set of online gambling rules came not as a change in Kansspelautoriteit’s stance but as its reaffirmation.
It was in late May when the regulatory body presented the above-mentioned set of rules, which significantly restricted Dutch-facing operators and iGaming affiliates’ opportunities to service local players and to promote gaming services to them.
Under the new rules, operators are not allowed to accept players referred from .nl affiliate websites. In addition, neither operators, nor affiliate businesses are allowed to use typically Dutch features and symbols to promote iGaming services to Dutch players.
The Netherlands’ New iGaming Law Still Under Consideration
As explained by Ms. Appelman, the country’s current regulatory framework does not allow the issuance of iGaming licenses to interested international operators. However, a change of the current legal status quo has been under consideration for several years now, with the most significant progress in that direction being made last summer.
In July 2016, the Dutch Lower House passed a bill that provided for the legalization and regulation of online gambling in the country. It is now up to the Dutch Senate to cast a final vote on the legislative piece and change the way the iGaming sector is treated under the country’s gambling laws. However, it is still unclear when exactly the necessary vote will take place.
Earlier this year, officials from the Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice pointed out that the country’s iGaming regulation effort has a “tough journey” before itself and that the market could be opened for international operations in July 2018 at the earliest.
