SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Industry trade association The European Gaming & Betting Association (EGBA) has moved to back Sander Dekker’s (Dutch Minister of Legal Protections) proposals to overhaul the Netherlands’ gambling regulatory framework.
This week, the Dutch Senate will re-debate the mandate of the much disputed Netherlands ‘Remote Gambling Bill’, which has remained stagnant in progress since securing its House of Representative approval in 2016.
Dekker seeks to introduce new provisions, which will modernise digital frameworks by introducing a multi-licensing structure, ensuring further consumer protection standards enforced across multiple verticals.
At present, the EGBA details that the Netherlands is one of only three EU countries who do not regulate online gambling ‘leaving its online gamblers playing in an unregulated environment and depriving the Dutch state of valuable tax revenue’.
Urging regulatory stakeholders, to follow through with the much-promised mandate of regulating online gambling services, the EGBA details that the Dutch government has unnecessarily lost circa €175 million in tax revenues per year.
Furthermore, the European trade association details that the Dutch Parliament has unnecessarily criminalised 1.9 million citizens who wager on unregulated operators, and have been denied legal betting services.
Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the EGBA, said: “For online gambling regulation to be a success, it should be underpinned by a licensing system which is able to attract enough companies to meet the demand of well-educated and internet-savvy consumers.
“For Dutch people, whether they play poker or like betting on sports, they should be able to find all the products they are looking for with companies regulated in the Netherlands, that pay taxes there and apply local consumer safeguards.
“A licensing model which facilitates this consumer choice will create a better functioning market with players who are properly protected and valuable tax receipts for the Dutch state.”
