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The new head of the Dutch gambling regulator wants to tackle illegal gambling, “scale up” the supervision of online operators' duty of care and strengthen international collaboration.
Michel Groothuizen, who replaced René Jansen as chairman of the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) on July 1, addressed the gambling industry for the first time at iGB Live! 2024 in Amsterdam on Wednesday (July 17).
“A licensed gambling market stands or falls on a robust approach to the illegal market. But that means there must be an attractive and reliable legal option in return,” Groothuizen said in his speech.
However, he added: “In recent years, we have seen that this is unfortunately not always the case. I too have read the news stories about big losses, and they worry me. Our authority is therefore expanding its supervision of licensed gambling in the coming year.”
A new duty-of-care unit, comprising 10-15 people in the KSA, will begin work from September 1 focusing on duty-of-care compliance, working on sanctions and penalty procedures, as well as “faster supervision”.
“We will send out warning letters more often and deliver short, quick blows, such as with an order subject to a penalty,” Groothuizen warned.
The new unit will also help implement the final parts of the Responsible Gambling Policy that was released by the KSA recently, as meeting duty-of-care standards in the Netherlands will soon include conducting affordability checks.
From October 1, any customer depositing more than €700 in a month, or €300 for those under the age of 24, will need to prove they can afford their gambling or have deposits blocked for a calendar month.
Gambling operators must also be able to spot, analyse and act on signs of excessive gambling within one hour.
“This requirement applies 24/7,” Groothuizen said. “This means that if someone decides to gamble €5,000 in the middle of the night, there is no waiting until the next morning before intervention. Compliance with the duty of care requires the gambling operator to be alert day and night.”
The KSA chair will hold meetings with the new state secretary for legal protection, Teun Struycken, whose party has publicly called for tighter restrictions on the online gambling market, and will “sound the alarm” when channelisation declines or licensees are ignoring the rules.
“This also applies to issues where we are not in charge ourselves, such as the plans to increase tax on gambling,” he said.
Groothuizen warned of the risks illegal operators pose to consumers and the legal market, flagging particular concern over the use of the KSA’s logo on some unlicensed sites and his shock at discovering some were also targeting self-excluded players.
“What strikes me is that there are not only illegal operators who simply choose not to serve our Dutch market, but there are also illegal operators who act completely lawlessly. The latter are really the pirates of this industry. Pirates who, moreover, don't seem to shy away from anything,” Groothuizen said.
To “better tighten the net around illegal gambling”, the new KSA chair will continue to work with Google and Meta and hinted that he wants to be given the power to be able to have illegal gambling websites taken down when the Remote Gambling Act is reviewed later this year.
Groothuizen also believes the KSA’s supervision cannot stop at the Netherlands' borders, advocating for continued international cooperation and knowledge-sharing in part through participation in the Gambling Regulators European Forum (GREF) and the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).
The KSA chair pledged to take an “active role” in these groups, which he believes can also help support better data-driven supervision and clamp down on match-fixing.
