SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Netherlands Gambling Authority, has specified all technical requirements related to the new protective measures that will be adopted by the Remote Gambling Act (KOA Act) starting from October 1.
As sanctioned by the Kamer, from October 1, all KOA licensees must incorporate the measures of a ‘new protective scheme,’ with the primary aim of reducing compulsive gambling by Dutch consumers.
The headline measures will see Dutch online gambling operators impose mandatory checks on monthly deposit limits of €350 on player accounts for individuals over the age of 25. For player accounts under 25, operators must ensure customer checks on deposit limits of €150 per month.
The scheme will impose a maximum deposit threshold of €700 on player accounts for those over the age of 25, while a €300 deposit limit will be applied to player accounts under 25.
To ensure that licensees adopt the upcoming measures correctly, KSA has published a specific webpage answering, “Frequently Asked Questions Responsible Gaming Policy 2024.”
KOA licensees were reminded that “If a player exceeds the net deposit limit when making a deposit, KSA considers it appropriate, in principle, for the provider to block further deposits from that player for the remainder of the calendar month.”
Duty-of-care requirements ensure that operators must track customer deposits to apply mandatory checks at €350 and €150 deposit thresholds per month.
For customers who seek to deposit above the €700 threshold, operators must apply a full duty-of-care check on the customer’s financial well-being, exposure to harm, and whether they are gambling excessively. As noted: “Providers may allow players to wager an amount above the net deposit limit, as long as this is responsible within the framework of the duty of care and all other legal obligations have also been met.”
The scheme allows customers to request a single deposit above the €700 threshold, which must be verified by full duty-of-care checks.
By applying deposit limits and controls, operators can “determine whether the player should be able to wager the amount above this limit.”
Operators can, therefore, choose to limit a customer to a deposit and loss limit of €700 should they have concerns about the player’s behaviour or financial well-being.
KSA states that the “provider is not obliged to investigate the financial capacity of the player itself”; however, operators are obliged to block deposits once individual thresholds are met.
On concerns about whether an operator can investigate a customer’s financial well-being under GDPR rules, KSA responded that “a provider is responsible for processing player data,” in which the operator must determine “how and which data it may use” to apply checks.
As such, operators should refer to the rules of the Dutch Data Protection Authority when applying checks on customers’ financial well-being.
Regarding whether operators should consider prizes and winnings as customer funds for recreational use:
KSA noted the circumstances of a customer leaving winnings in their account to wager on and the amount of winnings won by the customer. Operators must observe the rules of KOA articles, stating that it is a signal if a player uses more than 30% of their liquid assets to participate in games of chance. If the player loses a large cash prize in full or in a considerable part, this is also a signal of excessive participation.
KSA’s update clarified that new pop-up warnings on games of chance should be applied as an intervention measure to warn customers of their behaviour and spending. Although mandatory during customer play, operators should not consider pop-up warnings as a duty-of-care measure to check on customer well-being.
The update concluded with the KSA underlining the importance of heightened duty-of-care monitoring on customer accounts, in which “a provider must recognise signals of excessive participation in gambling or (a risk of) gambling addiction as soon as possible and be able to intervene. Usually, a provider of online gambling can intervene (almost) immediately and automatically.”
H2 sees KSA, led by the new Chairman Michel Groothuizen, reporting to the Netherlands Ministry of Justice. In his first address as KSA Chairman, Groothuizen backed the adoption of deposit limits as a logical protection of the KOA market.
Groothuizen is in direct discussions with the new state secretary, Teun Struycken, to grant KSA new supervisory powers to eliminate “illegal gambling offers.”
Overseeing the next phase of KOA changes, Groothuizen acknowledged the complexities in governing online gambling. As chairman, Groothuizen will seek to broaden KSA’s collaboration with wider Dutch authorities on healthcare and addiction to understand the true impact of gambling harms and design a comprehensive duty-of-care scheme for the market.
