The Dutch gaming authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) announced September 15 that it will fund three new pilot programs aimed at raising “awareness of problem gambling,” SBC News reported.
The money will come from the agency’s Addiction Prevention Fund (VPF), which hopes to educate the public how to recognize gambling risks and how to intervene in addiction. The fund collects money from gambling providers. The Ministries of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) and Justice and Security (JenV) oversee and disburse the funds.
One of the newly funded programs is the pilot of an “e-learning early detection of problem gambling” training program developed by the addiction clinic Jellinek. It will train healthcare professionals and debt counselors how to detect early signs of problem gambling.
The next project, put together by the public finance bureau Geldfit, which advises on financial matters and managing debt, will add a problem gambling support element to its Money Fit Platform.
The third project will be aimed at school children, specifically the “Bright at School” program developed by the Trimbos Institute. It seeks to “encourage healthy choices” in identifying risky behaviors connected to problem gambling.
In a related development, a report recently published by KSA claimed that gambling providers are not monitoring players consistently for addictive behavior.
This has prompted Franc Weerwind, the Netherlands ministry for legal protection to submit new rules, hopefully by early next year. The government would then put the Remote Gambling Act in 2024 out for consultation early next year.
iGaming Business reported September 19 that Weerwind commented during a parliamentary question session, “It is too early to judge the entire approach as successful or unsuccessful. I will closely monitor the effects of the various activities.” He added, “I am committed to combating gambling addiction, but I do not consider it realistic to prevent addiction altogether.”
He added that 23 percent of the 45,787 registered in the Dutch self-exclusion registry, Cruks, were under 25.
