KSA investigating operators as it closes the year with a status check
Chairperson of the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), Rene Jansen, revealed at the Amsterdam Gambling & Awareness Congress 2022 that the Dutch gambling authority are currently in the midst of an investigation of operators who are failing to follow protocols set to ensure proper care of gamblers.
In 2023, the KSA is set to double down on its efforts for player protection. ©Tim Mossholder/Unsplash
The process of attaining a gambling license in the Netherlands involves strict assessment of the operators in which one of the aspects is ‘duty of care’. All licensed operators are required to have addiction prevention measures in place before they receive the green light to offer their services to the Netherlands’ nationals. Jansen specified that the operators are the first ones to know which player is afflicted by addiction. In an event where a player displaying harmful gambling traits or patterns is detected, the operator is obligated to act on it and intervene immediately.
The KSA rulebook puts forth directives that act as preventive measures for harmful gambling and gambling addiction. One of them is setting upper limits for gambling per day. Here, a player with harmful gambling traits gets to set the highest monetary limit for gambling and cannot exceed that. This limit can be changed once every 24 hours. However, the regulator has observed that a few operators offer very high limits to addicts. The KSA has reached out to these operators based on this issue, as the maximum limits for every gambling activity are now mandatory.
Keeping the massive financial losses of players in mind, the KSA has launched a comprehensive investigation that will put licensed operators under the microscope to gauge their ‘duty of care’ implementation. The KSA chairperson announced that the initial results of this investigation will be out soon, after which the necessary actions will be taken.
The bar is set high but implementation is a challenge
Online gambling was passed into law in the Netherlands in 2021, before which the activity still existed in the country in something of a gray area. Now that the markets are regulated, the authority is able to discuss safe gambling and can play its part in preventing gambling addiction. Since its legalization, 24 operators have been issued online gambling licenses. However, the process to earn one is quite stern. The KSA only issues licenses to operators after a thorough assessment of particular operators. According to the KSA, there are about 563,000 accounts that are being used to participate in the games of chance. However, the number of players cannot be confirmed as several individuals have more than one registered account.
One of KSA’s challenges is the reliability of data
Jansen revealed that no reliable figures were available for the number of players afflicted by a gambling addiction. The KSA chairperson is hoping that the legitimate figures from the National Alcohol and Drugs Information System (LADIS) for gambling addiction will be available soon. As the KSA waits for numbers, it will be conducting a survey to note the gambling behaviors and patterns of the players in the Netherlands. The purpose of the survey will be to identify problematic patterns in gamblers and make them aware of the treatment for their addiction. Jansen mentioned that despite the unavailability of numbers, it was evident that a very small number of gambling addicts took the necessary steps to work against it.
The KSA chairperson shed light on how the authority has regulated the markets ever since the legalization last year to avoid ‘overkill’ before the activity gets normalized. With the three main objectives of protecting their consumers, preventing gambling addiction, and standing against illegal operators, the KSA has intervened in gambling activities on several occasions. Jansen put the authority’s latest intervention under the microscope. During the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, the KSA intervened thrice to stop activities and offers that were prohibited under the gambling laws of the country.
Speeding up involuntary self-exclusion is part of the plans
The Central Register Exclusion Games of Chance (CRUKS) is the self-exclusion register set up by the KSA, and according to Jansen, it is another tool in the authority’s armory that aids the prevention of gambling addiction. Players suffering from problematic gambling can register themselves under CRUKS to exclude themselves from all kinds of licensed gambling activity in the country. While registering, players can choose between a temporary exclusion or a permanent one. The minimum exclusion period of CRUKS is 6 months.
The register went live as soon as the gambling markets of the Netherlands were regulated. Since that day, around 30,000 players have registered under CRUKS. Online, as well as land-based operators and casinos, are obligated to check if a player is registered under CRUKS before granting them access to gambling. The KSA has been carrying out frequent checks to see if operators are following proper protocol. The findings have not been completely satisfactory, as a few operators are not playing their part.
Despite CRUKS being a voluntary register, there is a way for people to register someone with a gambling addiction from the family or workplace. The KSA intends to increase the pace of involuntary registrations as it takes a long time to register the player. Also, the term of an involuntarily registered player is no longer than six months as of now. Several new modifications will be made to the register in the coming days before CRUKS 2.0 will be made accessible to the public from January 2023.
Along with CRUKS, the KSA’s Addiction Prevention Fund was also created as soon as gambling was legalized in the country. The purpose of this fund was to invest it in research, awareness and education of players and, finally, for the treatment of those who are suffering from gambling addiction. A mandatory levy sees this fund getting financed by the licensed operators of the Netherlands. Anonymous treatments of gambling addicts are carried out using this fund.
Meanwhile, KSA warns operators against predatory loyalty programs
Earlier this week, the KSA sent out warnings to a couple of operators as they were offering loyalty programs to young adults. The intervention comes after the authority’s guidelines regarding the advertising of gambling were violated. The gambling law of the nation prohibits operators from aiming at young adults, between the ages of 18-24, for advertising.
After the warnings were issued, one of the unnamed operators ceased the activity with immediate effect, while a corrective sanction was imposed on the other by the KSA. This is one of many interventions the gambling authority has made this year. It continues to be vigilant and on the lookout for illegal gambling activities.
