KSA publishes blog post about operators’ duty of care

Added: September 20, 2023

The Kansspelautoriteit has recently published a blog post written by Chairman Rene Jansen about the steps local operators take to prevent problem gambling.

The blog post follows a bit over a week after the regulator published the results of its investigation on the topic, which reviewed the problem gambling prevention efforts of the market’s first 10 licensed operators. The investigation found that in many cases, the companies utilized subpar methods to fulfill their legal requirements of fighting against problem gambling.

The Chairman started his blog post by mentioning the results of the recent investigation, stating that licensed companies need to enhance their intervention efforts. He mentioned that in a previous post, he had stated that the market’s current duty of care regulations are quite vague and general, which was proven to be correct by the investigation’s findings.

Jansen then talked about the regulated gambling market, and whether it makes sense to maintain it, which is a question the Chairman stated he received several times over the past week. He mentioned that without regulation the duty of care would not exist at all, citing the subpar age verification systems of some illegal operators as an example of a lack of care.

The Chairman also mentioned that the legalized market gives the regulator plenty of insights into the market’s providers, which have proven to excel in some areas of their problem gambling prevention efforts, such as by imposing lower spending limits for their younger customers.

The blog post was brought to a close by mentioning that the Kansspelautoriteit will be utilizing the results of the recent investigation to enhance its duty of care requirements. The Chairman also called on industry firms and associations to enhance their efforts in the meantime.

Kansspelautoriteit