Dutch Lottery Regulators initiate a gamer conduct survey or introduce stricter lottery regulations
The Dutch gaming regulator, Kanspelautiteit (KSA), announced that a review of “negative behaviour control” for lottery operators would be launched and that the results would be used to improve the care obligations of online operators and could lead to stricter guidelines.
Previously, the National Bank of Saudi Arabia had commissioned the research institute Behavioural Insights to conduct a preliminary study of the effects of gambling on online gaming platforms. The National Bank of Saudi Arabia indicated that research had shown that online lottery providers, like other companies, used behavioural influences to induce consumers. The National Bank of Saudi Arabia considers this to be a positive and negative move. For example, positive practices include operators providing feedback to players on their game behaviour and alerting them to moderate games. However, research has also revealed some negative impacts, such as making large bets easy for new players. Regulators believe that such controls are particularly dangerous for players who are already addicted to gambling and can further deepen their addiction to gambling. KSA indicated that as a result of the study, they had gained a better understanding of the operator ‘ s means of remaining as a player and decided to initiate a special survey to obtain more information.
The President of the KSA Board of Directors, Michel Groothuizen, said: “We understand that online operators, like other business companies, will pay close attention to the image of the user and try to direct it for the benefit of the enterprise. Thanks to that study, we now have a more specific understanding of the operator’s operations and a more targeted indication of which negative management instruments are no longer desirable.” In response to the findings of the study, KSA will initiate an investigation focusing on the extent to which such negative behaviour controls violate the operator ‘ s due diligence obligations. In the future, KSA may also introduce stricter provisions to limit such negative controls. A range of gaming reforms are currently under discussion in the Netherlands, including raising the minimum age for online playground games from 18 to 21 years, and the introduction of mandatory financial competency tests for players wishing to increase their deposit limits (up from the KSA limit set last October). Currently, the maximum monthly deposit of a player between the ages of 18 and 24 is Euro300 and a player over the age of 24 is Euro7000.
However, the resignation of Teun Struycken, the State Secretary for Legal Protection in charge of Dutch Lottery, has left the future of the reforms in doubt, particularly in the context of the upcoming early elections on 29 October.
