KSA opens tender for gambling helpline

The Dutch regulator has opened the tender for the helpline and also published operator requirements for a new national self-exclusion scheme.

The Netherlands.- Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gaming regulator, has opened a tender to find a provider for a new national problem gambling helpline before the country opens up online gambling next year.

Under the Netherlands’ Remote Gambling Act, operation of the new service falls to the KSA, but the regulator will outsource development. The service will be funded by a levy on licensees to be paid to a new problem gambling funding body to be created under the same act.

Details of the tender say the service will need to be in operation from April 1 2021, before regulated online gambling in the Netherlands goes live on July 1. The service will offer treatment, advice and support to players and relatives via a website, chat service, email and phone.

Potential bidders have until July 1 to request more information, and bids need to be submitted by September 1.

KSA said it had already received seven expressions of interest from potential providers following an initial consultation on the service in February.

The regulator has also published technical specifications and operator procedures for The Netherlands’ new national gambling self-exclusion scheme.

All licensed operators will have to participated in the Central Register for Exclusion of Games of Chance (CRUKS) from January 1 2021. A test set up is scheduled to be ready for next month.

The register allows registration on an involuntary basis, with partners or relatives of customers able to request self-exclusion.

Exclusion will last for at least six months, with the possibility to request longer periods, and will be tracked via players’ Dutch Citizen Service Numbers.

Details are available via the KSA website.