Legislation licencing online gambling companies in the Netherlands has boosted addiction particularly among young adults and needs urgent reform, the government’s research agency WODC says in a new report.
Legal online gambling was introduced to the Netherlands in 2021, with the government saying a regulated legal market would make it easier to help people who were gambling illegally on foreign websites.
Instead, a string of reports have shown how the measures led to an explosion in people becoming addicted and building up debts. In total, 27 companies offering 37 different labels now have a licence to operate in the Netherlands.
WODC researchers posed as would-be gamblers, opened accounts and then asked for help via their chat services. But 17 out of 23 licenced companies referred the “problem gamblers” to a page listing their bonus offers, rather than addiction help. Six offered help and just two blocked the account.
The limited help is symbolic for everything that is wrong with the system, the researchers said. “Putting the care for online gamblers in the hands of those who are providing the addictive product, and who are competing for market share… was naive,” the report said.
The gambling authority has the power to issue fines, but needs more teeth, the researchers said. One option would be to allow the authority to freeze permits so that online casinos have to close down for a period.
The national addiction watchdog said in January that tens of thousands of people have been hit by financial problems as a result of the way online gambling was legalised three years ago.
Since then, the government has introduced a string of restrictions on advertising. In 2022, former footballers and other famous faces were banned from appearing in adverts for online gambling companies following concerns about the number of youngsters picking up the habit.
In July 2023 adverts for online gambling on radio, television, and at outdoor locations such as bus shelters were banned. Advertising on internet, on demand tv and in junk mail remains an option under strict conditions. Companies have to be able to show that 95% of the advertising reaches the over-23s and people should have the option to opt out of receiving it.
The government has also introduced a spending limit of €350 per day, but this is website-based and does not stop punters having multiple accounts.
Junior legal protection minister Teun Struycken told broadcaster NOS that players are not being protected by the legislation as expected. “There is work to be done,” he told NOS, pledging to come up with a formal reaction to the report before the end of the year.