Michel Groothuizen was proposed to the position of Chairman for the first time.
Plans to reform the Dutch Remote Gambling Act will maintain continuity, says the new chairman of the Dutch Remote Gambling Authority (KSA) Michel Grutusson. In his first blog post after taking office on July 1, he referred to the new Dutch gambling minister and the coalition government, which has taken a tougher stance on gambling, but said continuity and predictability were important will be the main feature of his tenure.
He wrote: "It may be a bit pretentious to compare the change of government in KSA with the formation of a new cabinet. The comparison is needed because the moment when I succeeded my predecessor, René Jansen, almost coincided with the time when the cabinet photo was taken Whatever your political leanings, you can easily argue that this is a special cabinet, with a lot of new faces among ministers and a different tone than the previous Rutte government in some striking ways. The contents of the files are completely different.
"But in other respects there will be continuity and inevitability. New ministers will also use much of the same infrastructure in their departments. Civil servants will support them, whether enthusiastically or not, but most importantly loyally, and provide them with professional advice, thus contributing to the stability and predictability of national government. This is a good thing, because otherwise a great deal of knowledge and expertise would be lost every four years, as has happened in the United States."
Grutusson said he hopes to communicate with gambling industry stakeholders, including land-based gaming operators. However, he expressed frustration at the KSA's lack of powers to directly block illegal gambling sites and planned to address this issue in upcoming reforms.
"This will make our regulation more effective," he wrote. Therefore, this will be an important discussion point when I evaluate KOA laws later this year. I believe that regardless of whether these illegal offers are available to Dutch players, a complete ban on their advertising is also an important part of this and I will also advocate this strongly with the new State Secretary Teun Struycken. "
Referring to the regulator’s new Online Duty of Care Unit, he added: “I have heard about the huge losses suffered by players and we are firmly committed that with the active involvement of this new unit, we will no longer see such excessive behavior in the near future. The rewritten Safe Play Policy will naturally play an important role in this regard.”
KSA criticizes Holland Casino Meanwhile, the KSA has issued a binding decision on Holland Casino for breaching the Dutch Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Act.
The problem dates back to a 2019 finding that the state-owned casino operator did not adequately check players' gambling practices or sources of funds. KSA noted that in March this year, the Administrative Court of Appeal for Trade and Industry partially upheld the operator’s appeal. It said the decision would not be disclosed publicly because of confidentiality obligations.
