Dutch government to consider pre-watershed advertising ban

The Dutch parliament is considering a full ban on gambling advertising between 6am and 9pm, it emerged last night in debates around the Remote Gaming Act.

A motion tabled by the Dutch Christian Union party yesterday called for the prohibition of between 6am and 7pm to be extended in line with current restrictions on alcohol advertising

Members of parliament debated ten motions, with a final vote on each expected next week.

A further motion tabled by the same party also called for a prohibition on all adverts featuring celebrities under the age of 25 in advertising for games of chance.

If passed, the motion would also require that operators must demonstrate the celebrity used in the ad has no “substantial reach” among individuals aged under the age of 24.

When asked how this could be proven, the Christian Union party called for the use of targeted research on broadcast and social media.

The Christian Union, Dutch Socialist Party (SP) and Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) parties tabled a tri-party motion calling on the Dutch government to develop a process to ensure so-called additional proceeds obtained from regulated sports betting are passed back to Dutch sporting associations.

Speaking about this motion, Dutch minister of justice and security Sander Dekker cited the absence of such a provision from the Remote Gaming Act, claiming the entitlement to additional proceeds was not “automatic” and had still to be agreed.

“Two provisions have been included that, after evaluation, could lead to extra money for the sport and not to compensate for the additional income, but rather to compensate for any lost and declining revenues. So a kind of emergency valve is built in,” Dekker said.

So-called higher risk games were also targeted in the debate, with a motion calling for the government to “explicitly discuss” the imposition of additional measures specifically for these games also being tabled.

Speaking about this motion, Dekker said while it was “wise” to target higher risk games, the targeting must be monitored to ensure the objective of channelizing players to regulated operators is not compromised.

Additionally, a separate motion tabled solely by the Christian Union party calls for these sporting associations to receive a veto on the competitions on which betting markets can be offered on integrity grounds.

Dekker argued against this motion, claiming it went “a step further” from protecting the integrity of sports and would give sports associations a “very big influence” on what would and would not be legally allowed.

Elsewhere, the SP tabled a motion asking the Dutch government to ensure only “reliable, bona fide new providers” will be allowed to enter the Dutch market and those who have been sanctioned are not given a chance to operate in the Netherlands.

A final motion put forward by the SP party asked the Dutch government to liaise with the Dutch Gambling Authority in the enforcement of restrictions against so-called loot boxes if such restrictions prove difficult to enforce.

A vote on the motions is expected next week.