KSA pushes adoption of new Responsible Play policy back to June

The Dutch Gambling Authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has announced that it will enforce the sector’s updated Responsible Play Policy Rules at a later date.

In chronological order, the KSA launched a consultation in December 2023 asking relevant gambling stakeholders for their feedback on a list of changes to the rules, part of which refer to stricter duty of care policies for online providers. 

With the initial date for publication of the amended rules set for early May 2024, the KSA has now extended the deadline to Monday, 3 June, 2024, citing a “large number of responses” stemming from a previous extension of the response period. 

“After publication of the proposed changes, the KSA decided at an empath request to give all parties consulted more time to submit a response,” the KSA stated. 

“The responses submitted were then carefully weighed. This took more time than anticipated; therefore, the publication date has been postponed.”

Providers can expect the new rules to come into full effect on the day of the new deadline, with the KSA explaining that some exceptions will be made in terms of the policies that require additional IT adjustments – with the regulator to announce more information in due course. 

The new rules come as a response to KSA’s September publication of a report highlighting that currently there are discrepancies between the level of engagement operators have when it comes to customer duty of care and its implementation. 

According to the paper, more can be done to encourage earlier operator intervention when it comes to the monitoring and prevention of gambling behaviour that causes harm in certain individuals. 

The amended Responsible Play Policy Rules have been introduced to address all of the above, with measures such as more stringent income checks and advertising limits being placed on the agenda.

This September study was additionally picked up by Dutch Legal Protection Minister Franc Weerwind, who plans to use it as a leverage in the evaluation of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA) that is coming up in October.