KSA voices disappointment with operators’ advertising shortcomings
Dutch Gambling Authority chair announces research into gambling advertising in the country after claiming was “not entirely successful”
Dutch Gambling Authority (KSA) chair Rene Jansen has suggested that the launch of the legal market in the Netherlands “was not entirely successful” almost seven months since its introduction.
The country legalised licensed online gambling on 1 October 2021 to much clamour, with Jansen noting he hoped the launch would provide a “textbook example” to the industry.
He said: “I hoped that the legalisation of online games of chance in the Netherlands would be a textbook example. That other countries that take this step would say: look, the way it went in the Netherlands, that’s how we want it. Unfortunately, we have to conclude that this was not entirely successful.”
Jansen said the failure of the market to be as successful as he had hoped boiled down to the volume of advertising online by operators.
He said: “I have to conclude that games of chance providers are looking for the edges. Minister Franc Weerwind for legal protection has already announced measures. Role models in advertising are no longer allowed in the short term. In the longer term, there will be a ban on untargeted advertising.”
He continued to detail some of the interventions the KSA has made in recent months to challenge those operators venturing into marketing grey areas.
He stated: “We intervened when a provider advertised with odds (the factor by which a bet is multiplied after winning), without it being visible that it was an advertisement. We instructed a provider to stop advertising on Twitter during a football match. We called out a provider who had odds posted on a football news site.”
The KSA also announced it is starting an investigation into advertising that could appeal to minors and young adults.
The research will consist of two lines of investigation: information as to whether licensed providers have sent advertisements to minors and young adults, including emails, bonuses and push messages.