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WILLEM VAN OORT
A MESSY START, BUT A START NONETHELESS Gambling Insider contributor and Founder of Gaming in Holland Willem van Oort discusses the convoluted launch of the regulated Dutch online gaming market. After many years of political wrangling, it opened on 1 October, but not without some unexpected and perhaps unwelcome last-minute surprises...
LAST-MINUTE POLICY U-TURN Only 10 days before the opening of the Dutch regulated market, the Netherlands Gambling Authority announced a set of new measures to force yet unlicensed operators to shut down their offering to Dutch consumers. Starting 1 November, 2021, the Netherlands Gambling Authority will implement new prioritisation criteria for deciding whether to take enforcement action against a specific
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operator. This decision will (generally) be based on the following four criteria: 1. The current number of Dutch players/customers 2. The harmfulness of the illegal offering 3. The extent to which the illegal offering (successfully) competes with legal alternatives 4. The extent to which the illegal offering is actively targeting Dutch consumers Specifically, this means online operators
with a large customer base in the Netherlands will henceforth be first in line for enforcement action. The Dutch regulator also announced higher, more impactful fines, starting at 4% of turnover achieved in the Netherlands. This new enforcement policy was drawn up in response to the new enforcement directive sent by Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection to the Dutch Lower House a week prior, the aim of which was to force
