The gambling authority of the Netherlands is set to investigate some operators that might have violated the social responsibility requirements by practically doing nothing to prevent players from losing a lot of money.
During a speech at the 2022 event of the Amsterdam Gambling and Awareness Congress, the chair of the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), René Jensen, confirmed that the Dutch gambling regulatory body is currently investigating a number of operators who reportedly did not comply with the requirement to provide sufficient care of their customers. As a result, the country’s gambling authority is set to probe their operations in order to check whether or not that is actually the case.
Mr. Jensen explained that the gambling regulatory body of the Netherlands believes that some companies have literally facilitated players to lose tens of thousands of euros in a short period of time. He, however, shared that in some of the cases, operators did not take action to persuade the players to stay away from their compulsive gambling habits. The KSA chair once again confirmed that the gambling authority will investigate whether gambling businesses do enough to protect customers.
For the time being, all players in the Netherlands are required to set deposit limits before they are allowed to play. However, there is no pre-determined limit, which basically provides players with the chance to pick a deposit limit large enough to gamble as much as they are willing to. The Kansspelautoriteit has been aware of this issue, which is why it warned the companies not to abuse the flaws of the system because they would face some consequences.
The Number of Dutch Problem Gamblers Increases Following the Opening of the Legal Online Gambling Market
During his speech at the Amsterdam Gambling and Awareness Congress, Mr. Jensen also spoke about the increase in the overall number of players, which has been registered since the country opened its legal online gambling sector only a year ago. The chair of the Kansspelautoriteit shared that, according to estimates, there are currently around 563,000 active player accounts. He, however, noted that the number may not adequately represent the actual number of players in the Netherlands because some of them have multiple accounts.
As far as gambling harm rates are concerned, the chair of the Dutch gambling authority did not have any details because, according to him, there are still no relatable statistics that could be used, considering that the country’s online gambling sector is very new. This will change soon because the National Alcohol and Drugs Information System is expected to reveal the number of people who are getting treatment for addiction.
The figure is set to help the competent authorities understand the actual impact digital gambling services have had on the Dutch market but experts have warned that the results may not be fully reliable, considering the fact that not all gambling addicts ask for help to deal with their compulsive gambling habits. According to Mr. Jensen, the authorities might need a large-scale survey in order to explore the full extent of the effects that the online gambling market had on problem gambling rates in the country.
