The Netherlands wants to kill online gambling ads, slots

The Netherlands may have just passed its toughest gambling laws and restrictions to date, with the country’s House of Representatives now opting to block gambling companies from posting any advertisement on the Internet.

This measure was voted on Tuesday, April 16, and is a significant step up from a previous gambling advertisement ban that was introduced on July 1, 2023, which explicitly singled out non-targeted ads, but allowed companies to still have a presence online when it comes to marketing efforts as long as it met a stringent set of criteria.

A previous ban also targeted TV advertisements as well as advertisements in physical spaces, such as bus shelters or billboards. Now, Members of Parliament have agreed that the need for a more comprehensive measure is long overdue. Among one of the MPs to have actually pushed vehemently for the online gambling ads restrictions is Michiel van Nispen who argued that addiction is far more likely to occur if people are engaging with online gambling.

Van Nispen has welcomed the decision by his colleagues to seek this measure, although he is himself a gambling hawk, who has bashed the industry for "bad practices" that leads to addiction among the population. The Tuesday vote also saw several other matters addressed.

The House of Representatives has also asked for gambling companies to be obligated to carry out mandatory financial risk checks and check for a player's indebtedness and intervene in cases where a person may be playing beyond their means. MPs have also discussed new powers for the Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch Gambling Authority, which would be allowed to investigate false IDs.

Both proposals were passed by MPs. Perhaps most significantly during Tuesday's vote was a proposal to see high-risk games of chance banned online. These are games that have a "very high-risk profile" and leave players with "no influence over the outcome," which means that online slots are now supposedly to be banned in the Netherlands, a significant move if it ever comes to pass.

The suggested ban on high-risk games of chance was backed by 79 MPs, garnering the necessary votes to pass. The onus is now on Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind to review and possibly enforce the law. A shift to an industry that kills access to regulated online slots may have unintended consequences, however, and significantly harm the channelization of the industry, with the majority of players opting for slot gameplay.

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