KSA pushes for KOA amendments to protect Dutch players

Netherlands
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Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch gambling authority, has sent a legislative letter to the Minister for Legal Protection, Franc Weerwind, requesting amendments to the Remote Gambling Act.

For the upcoming evaluation of KOA in 2024, the KSA asked Weerwind to give the gambling authority access to “false identity documents for enforcement and supervisory purposes”.

The gambling authority added that the letter was submitted in a bid to foster an increasingly “safe and responsible gambling system that properly protects and informs the Dutch player and prevents abuses”.

As such, the KSA believes two topics must be addressed as soon as possible: false ID creation for compliance purposes and the use of online data for analysis and investigation.

Currently, the gambling authority can use fake IDs, created and provided by the National Office for Identity Data on a legal basis, to check if operators are complying with regulatory requirements. 

The KSA is asking for an amendment to KOA so that necessary identity data to access a provider’s website can be obtained to “effectively and efficiently monitor the legal supply and take enforcement action against the illegal supply”.

Regarding online data, the gambling authority wants to expand the use of data from online operators in the control database beyond the current supervision and enforcement usage.

KSA is requesting KOA to be amended so the data be used for analysis and information to “provide a solid factual basis for prioritising supervision and enforcement and advising on policy making”.

Two other non-urgent issues have also been brought forward by the KSA: improving the Central Register for the Exclusion of Games of Chance procedure and time period, as well as redesigning slot machine legislation in line with online gambling.

On the topic of Cruks, the gambling authority has stated that the exclusion procedure is currently “too complicated and the time period of involuntary deregistration is too short” at only six months. 

The KSA added that “the number of involuntarily registered persons is so low that it can actually have no effect in terms of combating gambling addiction”.

As for slots legislation, the authority noted that the current legislation is “outdated and increasingly less in line with current regulations and technical developments” and that it needs to be redesigned to be in line with online gambling regulations.