KSA chair believes Dutch operators can do more to protect consumers

The regulated Dutch gaming market is a tough cookie to crack. But if one thing has become apparent in the months since the country welcomed regulated iGaming and sports betting, it’s that authorities are not letting up in their zeal to regulate the industry to the ultimate benefit of consumers. In an address published on the official website of the Dutch Gambling Authority, chairman René Jansen said that he is in favor of raising the standards for customer care that gambling providers and companies should meet.

Jansen added that operators should enforce tighter limits on gambling behavior and expenditures, all of which should be done with the idea of safeguarding consumers against falling into bad habits and practices. But this does not mean for an operator to just sit back and wait for a trigger condition to happen. Setting a limit should be something that operators do proactively as opposed to waiting for consumers to spend a given amount to trigger it, Jansen believes.

Jansen adds that there are good ways to tell if a consumer is exhibiting issues with gambling before reaching a certain spending milestone. He also cited research that factored in the gambling safeguards used in 21 other countries, pointing out that many of these countries were actually doing better in protecting consumers. One thing that could be improved, Jansen believes, is that the Netherlands can set a maximum deposit limit for consumers.

Presently, Dutch operators allow consumers to decide what those limits should be, but Jansen is keen to make sure that this is not the case for much longer – or at least hopeful that he can enact positive change in that regard. Enacting such changes, though, will require some consulting with operators and lawmakers. Regardless, the KSA chairman shared his skepticism about the status quo.

"I increasingly wonder whether we offer sufficient protection and safety to players with the current interpretation of the duty of care," he said. In his opinion, tightening up consumer protections should be a core focus of authorities moving forward and everyone involved in the Dutch gambling industry should also be learning from other relevant jurisdictions.

KSA has been particularly scrupulous of the local gambling market. In July, the KSA issued a warning to lottery operators which, the watchdog said, were introducing iGaming-inspired titles that exposed people to riskier forms of gambling under permits that did not allow that. There have been repeated calls to look into gambling limits and KSA has urged companies to make sure they are also responsible for the way affiliates do business in the Netherlands.

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