The Dutch General Administrative Service has named Michel Groothuizen as Chair of the country’s gambling authority, the Kansspelautoriteit.
Responsible for the establishment of the KSA back in 2012, Groothuizen will replace René Jansen as Chair of the authority later this year, after Jansen announced back in October that he would not be standing for re-election.
A lawyer and public administration expert, Groothuizen has been a member of the main board of the Judicial Institutions Service as Deputy Director General for the past four years.
In addition, he has also been General Director of the Netherlands Institute for Forensic Psychiatry, Policy Director and Director of FEZ in the administrative department of JenV, as well as a Deputy Judge at the Arnhem Court of Appeal for 15 years.
Commenting on the role, Groothuizen said: “Old love never dies. From 2007 onwards, as policy director, I was responsible, among other things, for the gambling dossier. One of my tasks was to establish the Gaming Authority. We succeeded in 2012.
“We had already been working on new legislation for a few years to manage online gambling offerings. It took almost 10 years before the law that was supposed to regulate this actually came into effect.
“I was long gone by then. But I think it is a wonderful challenge at this time to ensure safe gambling in a socially responsible manner and to combat negative consequences, such as gambling addiction.”
Groothuizen will begin as Chair of the gambling authority later this year from July 1.
Ric de Rooij, Deputy Secretary General of JenV, added: “With Michel, the Ksa will have a new manager with very broad administrative experience and knowledge of the subject in question. This is also necessary because developments surrounding gambling do not stand still and will continue to require attention. I look forward to working with Michel.”
