Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gaming authority, is predicting that the online gaming market will grow 15 percent annually this year, SBC News reported.
The authority’s fourth monitoring report indicated a net gaming revenue of €90 million for January, which indicates a growth of between 13 percent and 15 percent, according to KSA Chairman René Jansen.
Jensen told SBC, “This fourth monitoring report shows a growth in the market for online games of chance, as we previously predicted. This is a development that requires all of our attention.”
Jensen added that the regulator’s player protection targets have been achieved. When the market launched in October of 2021 under the KOA Act, the goal was that 80 percent of players would bet on licensed operators. The latest figures show that 92 percent of Dutch customers who were playing in the old marketplace are using legal sites. Of new bettors, 98 percent play on licensed sites.
Jensen emphasized that operators must take their “duty of care” seriously and intervene to protect vulnerable players. “Providers of games of chance must take up their duty of care firmly and intervene in a timely manner to protect players in order to realize that safe environment,” he said.
KSA has found that there are disparities in how different operators implement these policies, SBC reported. This includes disparities in how they handle losses, playing time and betting numbers.
“Our investigation into the implementation of the duty of care this spring shows that the duty of care is interpreted in a very broad and varied way,” the chairman told SBC. “It is therefore very important that we, together with providers, look at a clearer interpretation that protects players in the best possible way. Compliance with the duty of care is also a priority in our supervision.”
The gaming industry will be subjected to a restriction on online gambling advertising beginning July 1. Some TV ads will be allowed on TV and the internet. The rest will be banned. Sports sponsorships will be banned the following year.
