Court rejects appeals against lottery monopoly in the Netherlands

The Netherlands gaming regulator has been authorised to grant a monopoly on state lotteries.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch Administrative Jurisdiction Division has granted the national gaming regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), authorisation to allow a continued monopoly on state lotteries.

In three different rulings, the division rejected separate appeals from Betfair and the Dutch Online Gambling Association (NOGA) and concluded that the single-permit system for state lotteries is justified.

It found that KSA was consistent in issuing a single lottery licence to the national lottery operator Lotto BV while granting multiple charity lottery licences.

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The division recognised that there are similarities between the state lottery and charity lotteries but said that there were also significant differences.

It said that the aim of the Dutch Lotto was for as many people as possible to gamble through a legal provider, which meant it was important that the market was not divided among different providers.

That would create a risk of no single provider being strong enough to offer a large enough prize pool to attract the maximum number of players.

It also noted that the number of draws for the national lottery was higher than for charity lotteries and that its contributions to charity were lower.

The Dutch gaming regulator last week revealed its new igaming licensing mark ahead of the launch of the regulated igaming market this year.