The lower house of the Dutch Parliament has passed online gaming regulations, marking the first time the Netherlands will have a regulated online gaming system. The country’s Senate is expected to approve the bill later this year and the new regulations could be in place by 2017.
The bill has taken more than two years to hammer out and faced numerous reviews and amendments regarding industry taxes, licensing, advertising standards, impacts to land-based operators and concerns relating to sports integrity.
Some amendments to the bill included a prohibition of lotteries and land-based operators using their existing player databases to promote their online offerings. Land-based operators will also be obligated to use player identification software and contribute to a problem gambling fund.
Further, international online gambling operators, will not be forced to have a land-based presence of some form within the Netherlands.
