The Dutch Gambling Authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has revealed the results of its investigation into the level of duty of care of arcades in the Netherlands.
Under the Remote Gambling Act (KOA Act), all providers of gambling services – including arcade venues – are required to exercise stringent controls when it comes to gambling harm prevention.
Across the 20 arcades that the KSA sent inspectors to earlier in December and January, most demonstrated satisfactory compliance results.
And while regular players seem to be familiar with and correctly understand their own behaviour and gambling habits, there is still room for improvement, the regulator added.
Some of the venues have implemented varying levels of playing time monitoring, but “not one of the halls examined” having set a maximum playing time in place. The KSA reminded that this measure is particularly important for arcades open to players 24 hours a day.
All inspected arcades also allowed customers to play on multiple slot machines, which is not against the law explicitly, but poses the risk for excessive gambling behaviour.
The Dutch market is expected to undergo a complete revision with a set of changes coming into force from 1 October.
Reforms were first led by Franc Weerwind, former Legal Protections Minister, who will now be replaced by Teun Struycken under the new Schoof cabinet.