The Netherlands approves gambling education programme

Gambling will be included as a topic in a school programme on money matters.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch government has approved an €8m education programme that will include the topic of gambling in school lessons on money matters, debt and risks. Introduced by minister for poverty prevention and social participation, Carola Schouten, the funding will mainly go towards teacher training. 

Schouten said the programme was designed to improve financial literacy by teaching money management at a critical age and thus helping to prevent young people from running into debt. She said the program would “emphasise understanding the risks of online gambling and cryptocurrency investments”.

The program was announced after research by Nibud showed that over a quarter of vocational students were facing debts or faced payment. The aim is to expand the programme across all Dutch primary schools and secondary schools from 2024.

Schouten said: “This programme not only seeks to equip young people with important financial skills but also to create a support network within the school and community for those facing financial difficulties.”

The Netherlands is to implement a ban on gambling advertising on July 1, covering all untargeted ads on TV, radio and in public places. Meanwhile, the national gambling regulator, the KSA, has made recommendations for several changes to Dutch gambling legislation 

In a letter to Fran Weerwind, the Netherlands’ minister for legal protection, the KSA said it was submitting recommendations ahead of next year’s planned review of the Remote Gambling Act (ROA) because it believed them to be too important to wait.

Its most urgent ask is for the law to be changed to allow it to create fake identities to monitor whether operators are complying with gambling regulations.  

Currently, only Holland’s National Office for Identity Data can create false IDs for the purposes of surveillance. The KSA says it needs to be allowed to do the same in order to monitor online gambling more efficiently and effectively.