Netherlands Introduces Ban on Casino Slots and Ads

The Dutch government has just made another huge milestone towards shaping the future of the online gambling industry. It has just approved a law that bans online gambling ads and high-risk gambling opportunities – online slots.

Voting Process

According to Casinocout.nl., everything happened last week when the House of Representatives of the country accepted the legal document with 114 motions. This was the result of multiple debates with fourteen of them being directly related to the iGaming industry. The end of voting saw ten accepted debates which was enough for enforcement of online gambling ads and slot games ban.

When it comes to the background of motions, both of them have been submitted by Socialist Party (SP) MP Michiel van Nispen. Interestingly, motions arrive after refuted proposals by MP Derk Boswijk from the Christian Democratic Appeal. It’s even more surprising to hear that only two months ago, the government didn’t have enough votes to turn the motion into law.

Another interesting thing is that Michiel Van Nispen’s motion presented last week was related to the same limitations as introduced in February’s proposal.

April’s vote procedure saw the motion having 77 votes which was perfectly enough for the ban to become law. This means that all types of online ads for gambling brands in the Dutch market are to be outlawed. This prohibition is yet another limitation for online gambling platforms as they already faced another similar ban in 2023, restricting gambling ads on TV, radio, and outdoor media.

What About Veto on Online Slots

Gambling ads are not the only scope of the recent debate in the Dutch government. Online slots are also claimed to be risky games for players; thus, the restriction was a logical decision. Michiel Van Nispen also approved a motion on a full prohibition of online casino slots as they are known as “gambling with high risk”. This is because the player has less control over the result of the game.

A majority of 79 MPs accepted the motion. Still, auspicious votes for the motions, don’t mean that supporters can also expect the update of the gambling law Kansspelen op Afstand (Koa), which was originally presented in April 2021.

Franc Weerwind, Dutch minister for legal protection, said that he will focus on revealing all gambling-related motions. At the moment, the country is going through a challenging period when the new government should be constituted after elections in November last year.

Source:

“Online Casino’s in the Netherlands face ban on slots and advertisement”, europeangaming.eu, April 22, 2024.