Dutch regulator to create igaming licensing department

The KSA will take on extra staff to cope with the influx of gaming licence applications expected next year.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch Gambling Authority (KSA) will create a new temporary licensing department to cope with the influx of applications when Holland launches its regulated igaming market next year.

Its chairman, René Jansen, told attendees at the Gaming in Holland conference that the department will be mainly staffed by existing employees but that the regulator would hire and train extra people to ensure it had the resources to deal with a high number of applications.

The date that licensing will begin under the new regime was recently put back from January 1 to March 1 2021. The market is now due to go live on September 1.

Jansen told Gaming in Holland delegates: “The countdown has begun to make the KOA Act a reality.

“The Remote Gambling Act (KOA) will enter into effect on 1 March 2021. This means that from that date on it will be possible to submit applications for online gambling licences. And that, in turn, means that the online gambling market will open on 1 September 2021.”

Jansen repeated a warning he made in an interview with Focus Gaming News earlier this year that the regulator will review operators’ conduct in the period prior to the launch of regulation as a central part of licensing approval.   

He said: “We will look at the applicant’s activities for a period of two years and eight months prior to the date of their application. The review period of two years and eight months reflects the delay incurred in relation to the date on which the law was previously intended to enter into force.”

Jansen commended the KOA Act for its comprehensive protections on consumer safeguards and gambling addictions. He said that the delays in its implementation were due to it being scrutinised by all relevant Dutch oversight departments.

He said: “The House adopted motions, which then had to be incorporated. After that, the next step was the still-ongoing notification procedure with the European Commission in order to verify conformity with the internal EU market.

“Also ongoing at the moment is an advisory process with the Council of State, which is responsible for evaluating the quality of legislation. All of which is to say, this process is certainly no walkover – even before the coronavirus simultaneously reared its ugly head.”