Dutch gambling regulator launches Gamban pilot amid Euro 2024 campaign

The KSA said it is focusing on prevention, supervision and enforcement. 

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has outlined three areas of focus during the Euro 2024 football championship: prevention, supervision and enforcement. In particular, it intends to strengthen controls on young people betting in anticipation of an increase in activity. 

The regulator has already launched a campaign with the Dutch national support service Loket Kansspel, funded by the Addiction Prevention Fund (Vpf), to provide educational material on safer betting risk mitigation aimed at people aged between 18 and 24. 

With the slogan “Don’t Play Games With Your Money’”, the campaign invites young people to take a test to receive an analysis of their gambling behaviour. They are redirected to Loket Kansspel if they are found to show increased risks of gambling harm. Those contacting Loket Gambling over the summer will be offered a free two-year subscription for the gambling self-exclusion service Gamban.

The KSA says it is also speaking directly with sports betting providers to clarify what advertising will be considered acceptable. Operators have been warned to comply with new laws on advertising.

New regulatory unit

Earlier this month, KSA chairman René Jansen revealed that the gambling regulator will create a new Online Duty of Care Department as a temporary measure. The special department will focus exclusively on monitoring the fulfilment of online gambling operators’ duty of care.

Announcing the news in a speech at Gaming in Holland in Amsterdam, Jansen said the KSA would take on ten to 15 new staff to run the department. The unit will begin operating on September 1. 

The launch is a response to cases of excessive gambling, which the regulator said showed that operators were not fulfilling their duty of care. Jansen said the new Online Duty of Care department would take swift, decisive action via warning letters, fines and other sanctions in cases where companies fail to meet the duty of care.