The Dutch Gambling Authority recently announced that it will allocate special funds to five new projects focused on preventing gambling-related harm, with funding sourced from the Addiction Prevention Fund managed by the authority. Established in 2021, the fund is financed by high-risk gambling operators through an additional tax, essentially a "who creates risk pays" redistribution mechanism. At the same time, the authority also released a survey report on minors' access to legal online gambling platforms, with intriguing conclusions—under the current identity verification system, it is "almost impossible" for those under 18 to register and bet on licensed platforms. However, the chairman of the regulatory board also admitted that the problem has not disappeared, with the real risk hidden in those unguarded illegal platforms. In his words, illegal platforms virtually ignore age verification and even specifically target places like TikTok, where teenagers congregate, to precisely place ads, which is the most troubling hidden danger.
Five projects, four directions, where is the money spent?
This round of funding focuses on four core areas: expanding peer support networks, developing clinical addiction treatment guidelines, embedding prevention measures into existing social and health programs, and providing support for affected workplaces and families. Each of the five projects has its own role:
Gamblers Anonymous and the Gamblers Environment Foundation will use this money to train group facilitators, advance professional development, and pilot online peer support meetings, aiming to extend the support network to those without physical meeting points or who cannot attend in person.
The Dutch Psychiatric Association is responsible for developing clinical guidelines covering gambling and gaming addiction, directly responding to the recommendations made by the national addiction problem reporter in the "Gambling with Health" report.
The Tinbergen Institute is advancing two pilots: one exploring how to embed gambling prevention in the "Growing Up in a Hopeful Environment" program aimed at teenagers, and another studying how employers can identify early signs of gambling problems among employees and establish referral channels in the workplace.
The Nast Foundation provides webinars, one-on-one consultations, and newsletter services through the OpenOverGokken.nl platform, helping family members of gambling problem individuals clarify the path to assistance.
PASA official website continues to track European responsible gambling policy trends, noting that the core logic of the Dutch fund operation model is to shift prevention costs from public finance to suppliers of high-risk gambling products, while ensuring the closed loop between fund flow and actual intervention effects through entrusting professional third-party institutions.
Minor Protection: Licensed platforms hold up, illegal platforms break through
The regulatory board's simultaneous release of the minors' survey conclusion sketches a dual picture. On one side, the licensed platforms, with multiple layers of verification, indeed work effectively, making it nearly impossible for minors to slip through. However, the report also admits to sporadic technical loopholes, and more crucially, the illegal platforms on the other side are completely unguarded—lacking age verification thresholds and precisely targeting young demographics with their advertising, the regulatory board characterizes the harm as "extremely great".
The chairman's statement reveals an adjustment in enforcement strategy: while continuing to crack down on illegal supply, greater effort is being directed towards educating minors, helping them recognize the risks of gambling from the source. This approach echoes the actions of multiple European countries. The UK government recently announced a grant of £25.4 million to support gambling harm prevention and resilience building programs; Norway has launched a four-year youth anti-gambling action plan, integrating prevention publicity, treatment service upgrades, and research agendas.
From the Dutch special fund to the UK's financial grants and Norway's action plan, European regulators are transforming responsible gambling from a slogan into a systematized resource allocation. And perhaps the biggest suspense lies in whether these investments can truly outpace the spread of problems when the algorithmic distribution capabilities of illegal platforms far exceed the speed of regulatory pursuit.
————
This article is from "PASA-Global iGaming Leaders," a gambling industry news channel: https://t.me/pasa_news
Gambling original deep channel: https://t.me/gamblingdeep
Free data reports: @pasa_research
PASA Matrix: @pasa002_bot
PASA official website: https://www.pasa.news
