Dutch affiliates could “pull the plug” as prospect of new ad ban looms

Dutch affiliates and media firms have hit out at the potential wide-ranging advertisement ban set to be introduced in the Netherlands in 2023.

The new measures would see the market introduce a blanket ban on all untargeted advertising of games which are deemed high-risk, including online sports betting and online casino.

While this untargeted advertising will include radio, television and out-of-home marketing, affiliates have raised concerns over the impact the new regulation could have on internet advertising.

As part of a public consultation on the regulatory changes, Frank Op de Woerd, co-founder of affiliate online gambling news resource CasinoNieuws, explained the issues with the blanket measures and that should the law come into force, affiliates would struggle in the new environment.

Op de Woerd said the article in the proposed legislation concerning internet marketing was a “make or break moment” for the Dutch Gambling Act if not properly managed.

Under the definition of the untargeted element of advertising, the new regulation would require internet users to verify their age before accessing affiliate sites, a process Op de Woerd argued would be overkill.

He said: “If an informative website like CasinoNieuws were to ask you for a scan of your passport, then you will probably give up quickly. It is therefore not workable in practice because 99.99% of the visitors are likely to drop out.

“Verifying age is already difficult, but verifying whether or not someone has a gambling addiction is even more difficult. There is only one way to control that effectively, and that is by Cruks [the national self-exclusion register] to read whether or not someone has been excluded. Informative websites cannot consult the Cruks database and it is not desirable that they do in the future.

“If the letter of the concept is followed, in theory that would mean that affiliate websites can be fined by the Gaming Authority. In time, affiliates such as CasinoNieuws, who adhere to the laws and regulations, are therefore forced to pull the plug,” he added.

Op de Woerd went on to argue that should the new legislation be put in place, effectively clipping the wings of affiliates, it would leave space for “cowboy affiliates” who promote offshore operators.

He continued: “If it’s those affiliate cowboys that appear in the top 10 on Google when you search for keywords such as ‘legal Dutch casino’ and ‘online casino Netherlands’, then the illegal offering immediately grows again. A snowball effect will ensure that the market share of legal casinos decline and illegal casinos once again take over.”

Elsewhere, Dutch media giant Talpa could launch a legal challenge over the proposed measures, while the public consultation currently has eight responses.