The Netherlands Online Gambling Association and its Portuguese sister organisation Associação Portuguesa de Apostas e Jogos Online have rolled-out a memorandum of understanding.

Under the terms of the tie-up, the two association’s say that they will work to jointly promote channelling and responsible participation in online gambling across both countries.

“We are excited about our new partnership with APAJO. The Portuguese market is comparable to the Dutch market but lies years ahead with the regulation of the online market,” stated Peter-Paul de Goei, NOGA managing director.

“We intend to frequently exchange market information and learn from best practices. Our cooperation with APAJO will benefit us hugely in jointly developing the Dutch online gambling market with all local stakeholders.

“We are confident that this step will eventually also add to an organic regulatory growth towards harmonisation of gambling regulation in the EU.”

Such cooperation and exchange of information, say NOGA and APAJO, is essential for countries to learn from each other’s experiences and subsequently avoid common pitfalls.

The collaboration will also see the mutual exchange of information and share local best practices to help build a healthy, reliable and secure online gambling market in the two countries.

“We very much welcome the initiative taken by NOGA to lift the so far unofficial exchange of data and facts to the next level and launch an institutionalised regular cooperation,” added Gabino Oliveira, APAJO president.

“Although we see the social, economic and historical specificities of each EU Member State reflected in local gambling regulations, we are nonetheless all Europeans, and as such, there is an extensive common ground when it comes to online gambling-related topics like consumer protection, sports integrity, or advertising and data protection standards.”