Dutch affiliates say betting restrictions harm legal gambling offering

Four prominent names in the affiliate sector have written to the Netherlands’ House of Representatives to call for restrictions to be reconsidered.

The Netherlands.- Four affiliate representatives have written a joint letter to the Netherlands’ House of Representatives calling for legislators to reconsider the country’s restrictions on popular types of bets. They say the prohibition of over/under options such as bets on the number of cards or corners in a match means some players turn to unregulated betting.

The signees of the letter are Oddsbeater cofounder Paul de Bruin, Betmanbegins founder Michael Mertes, Betstreet Boys podcast host Jeffrey Noeken and CasinoNews co-founder and head of content, Frank Op de Woerd.

The letter states: “The government has a responsibility to protect citizens and prevent this problem. When the Dutch are even willing to bet with private individuals on betting markets that are prohibited under the Remote Gambling Act, it is a realistic assumption that many also go to illegal online bookmakers.”

The affiliates cited a recent case in Belgium in which a man was arrested for placing illegal bets for Dutch residents. The man was allegedly taking a 10 per cent commission and accepted bets without age verification and without checking the Netherlands’ self-exclusion register, CRUKS.

They said this was “concrete evidence that players are going to the illegal offer to bet on the prohibited betting markets,” and asked lawmakers to “take the necessary steps to combat these illegal practices by reviewing the list of allowed and prohibited bets to keep well informed”.

The Dutch online gambling market opened in October 2021. The national gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has licensed 22 companies to offer online betting, but stats betting markets are prohibited due to concerns about match-fixing with the fear being that they could provide players with a financial incentive to commit fouls to get booked or concede corners.

However, the affiliates argued that this reasoning was unfounded and that there are “countless ways” to manage the risk of match-fixing, for example by allowing bets on cards and corners with certain football-focused companies only.

Whether the affiliates’ request is successful is perhaps unlikely. Members of parliament are pushing for the introduction of the planned ban on gambling advertising and seem in little mood to relax regulations on gambling.