Dutch party proposes “universal loss limit” for online gambling

ChristianUnie says the current rules are “deficient against excessive gambling”.

The Netherlands.- The ChristianUnie party has called for the addition of an amendment to the Netherlands’ online gambling legislation to introduce a “universal loss limit”. The party’s leader Mirjam Bikker says current rules are “deficient against excessive gambling”.

The proposal has been submitted to the minister for legal protection, Franc Weerwind, amid a review of the legislation that paved the way for the launch of regulated online gambling in October 2021.

Weerwind told the Dutch parliament he had received the proposal but would not advance it since “organising such an overarching limit to apply to all 27 online gambling providers would be time-consuming and complex to achieve”. However, the proposal is said to have the support of several parties.

For now, Weerwind is proposing measures including a €150 spending limit for customers aged under 24 and compulsory monthly financial risk checks for all player accounts that spend more than €350. A vote on these proposals is slated for this month, but ChristianUnie argues that this still allows too much risk since players could spend such sums at different operators and avoid detection.

In October, the Dutch National Rapporteur on Addictions (NRV) submitted 22 opinions on gambling limits, advertising and addiction prevention policies to the Ministry of Justice in a report on the impacts of gambling on health. These included a recommendation to introduce mandatory play limits for casino games.