SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has reminded sports clubs to prepare for the gambling sponsorship ban this summer.
Active from 1 July, relevant deals between the sports sector and companies that directly offer gambling services will be banned, similar to the current sponsorship landscape in Belgium.
The July ban is a continuation of the wider Dutch advertising reforms launched back in 2023, when the KSA significantly limited the promotion of gambling in public places.
After that kicked off, the sports sector was notified about the upcoming sponsorship ban, giving them exactly two years to develop strategies that would bring alternative revenue streams.
Besides sports clubs, the ban will also refer to individual athletes, whole competitions, shirt sponsorships, alongside all other promotional partnerships.
The KSA is in active talks with various associations within both the sports and gambling sectors to facilitate effective collaboration as they move towards the transition point.
Michel Groothuizen, Board Chairman of the KSA, added: “In other countries with a similar ban, we see that gambling providers are trying to circumvent the ban in creative ways.
“As far as I am concerned, that is not an issue in the Netherlands. This law is drafted to protect young adults and other vulnerable groups.
“You do this by preventing them from being exposed to gambling advertising, regardless of who that advertising comes from. As the KSA, we are going to be very keen on that.”
The reforms are being led by Secretary for Legal Protections, Teun Struycken, who oversees a wider scrutiny of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA), which he argues needs significant improvement after first legalising the Dutch gambling market in 2021.
Such improvements mostly revolve around reducing the gambling harm rates among Dutch citizens, including the limiting of gambling promotions in public and across sports.
However, the government has already become concerned about how some sports clubs in neighbouring Belgium have circumvented the ban. Struycken has previously stated that he expects the KSA to ‘use all legal means to prevent or stop this’ from also happening in the Netherlands.
