KSA Asks Minister for Legal Protection for a Change in the Law

Based on its practical experience, the Ksa wants to make an active contribution to legislation and regulations and therefore periodically sends a legislative letter to Minister Weerwind. With a view to the upcoming evaluation of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA) in 2024, the letter now sent only includes the most urgent points of attention. Subjects not included in the legislative letter may be included in the evaluation.

As far as the Ksa is concerned, the following two subjects cannot wait for the evaluation:

• The Ksa has the authority to use false proof of identity to see whether providers of games of chance comply with the rules. Such a false ID can only be created and provided by the National Office for Identity Data and only with a legal basis. However, the law does not provide such a basis for the Ksa and should therefore be amended so that the Ksa can obtain the identity data required to access the websites of providers. These must be replaced regularly to prevent them from being recognized by the providers. With this adjustment, the Ksa can monitor the legal supply more effectively and efficiently and take enforcement action against the illegal supply.
• Online license holders are obliged to include a selection of the data from their gaming systems in their data vault, the Control Database. These may currently only be used by the Ksa for supervision and enforcement, and not for analysis and research. If the law is amended accordingly, the Ksa can provide a solid factual basis for setting priorities for supervision and enforcement and for advising on policy-making.

In addition to these two urgent topics, the Ksa points out two other points of concern:

• The Central Register of Exclusion from Games of Chance (Cruks) has the option of involuntarily deregistering players from games of chance (at the request of close relatives, such as family members, or providers of games of chance). At the moment little use is made of this option: the number of involuntarily registered persons is so low that it cannot actually be assumed to have any effect in terms of combating gambling addiction. The Ksa finds that the procedure is too complicated and the time period for involuntary deregistration (6 months) is too short.
• The legislation surrounding slot machines is outdated and is increasingly incompatible with current regulations and technical developments. The Ksa recommends reshaping this legislation in line with the legislation for online games of chance.

These points from the legislative letter will be submitted to the Minister, so that by tackling these points, the Ksa will come even closer to a safe and responsible gaming system that properly protects and informs the Dutch player and counteracts abuses.

Legislative letter 2023 Gaming Authority (pdf, 217 kB)

SOURCE: Kansspelautoriteit.