New Dutch lottery framework for early 2021

The Netherlands is seeking to protect its existing lottery ahead of the opening of a regulated online gambling market next July.

The Netherlands.- Sander Dekker, Holland’s Minister for Legal Protection, will draw up a new framework designed to ensure the survival of the Netherlands’ lottery sector after the opening of regulated online gambling.

Dekker has said he will put the new framework to the Dutch parliament in the first quarter of 2021, before the Netherlands’ regulated online gambling market goes live in July. 

The framework will take on board findings from a PricewaterhouseCoopers report that was commissioned by the Dutch government last year to investigate what changes were needed to ensure the continued viability of state-owned Staatsloterij and Lotto, as well as charity lotteries when they face competition from online casinos and sportsbook products after the Remote Gambling Act comes into force. 

The PwC report said that a greater range of legal products would create competition for the lottery sector for the first time, but that this should encourage lottery operators to seek improved efficiency and innovation, and a wider range of products.

It said: “After all, increased competition can mean that providers want to distinguish themselves from each other in order to gain market share. As long as there are limited social risks, and/or they can be properly mitigated, market growth and more advertising are not necessarily problematic.”

PwC suggested in the report that newly licensed iGaming operators could be made to make compulsory contributions to charities to make up for the income charities may lose through competition with their lottery products.

It said: “In order to ensure a socially desirable level of social contributions to charities, a minimum contribution percentage can be introduced; that minimum percentage then applies to all lotteries. What is a desirable amount for such a percentage is a political choice.”