Having decided to legalise online gambling, the Dutch government took a step back when last November, it announced that the market launch for regulated online gambling and online casinos has now been delayed until June 2021.

The Minister of Justice and Security Sander Dekker told the Dutch lower house of parliament that the proposed amendments to the Remote Gambling Act would have to be delayed by six months. Dekker, however, rejected calls to implement a total ban on gambling advertising, saying that this is “not in itself an objective of the current Dutch gambling policy.” 

He said, however, that there are plans for government to strengthen the existing rules on advertising in the Netherlands, which might include limited bonus offers, limited celebrity endorsement, regulated time-frame for advertising and restrictions on behavioural targeting.

Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling regulator, will only begin accepting online licence applications after the RGA is enacted. The KSA also released updated information on the application process. Operators will be able to apply for any of four different online betting forms: casino games where players play against the licence holder; casino games where players play against each other; betting on events during a sports competition or on the outcome of a sports competition; and bets on horse racing and hard trotting results.

These processing of these applications will take six months before being fully ratified. The KSA will not be granting licences to prospective online gambling operators that have not displayed a functional age-verification system – as government aims to restrict the participation of under-aged customers to zero per cent.

The decision to delay was made to allow government time to create secondary gambling legislation.

The amended RGA is now set to take effect on January 21, 2021. Once the RGA becomes fully functional, potential online legal sports betting and gambling operators can apply for licences.

Disclaimer: Play responsibly. Players must be over 18. For help visit https://www.gamcare.org.uk/

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