The Netherlands passes law on data for gambling harm research
Gaming operators will be required to provide data for research into gambling harm.
The Netherlands.- The Dutch government has passed new legislation that will require operators to provide data for the purposes of research into gambling harm.
The regulations, which have been published in the official government gazette, will require operators to pass anonymised data to research institutions when requested.
The data provided must include frequency of login and play, player age if aged under 24 and transaction history. It must also include details of any interventions carried out and how players responded to them.
Research institutions must inform both the executive board and the relevant license holders when research is published.
The rules say: “In practice, research institutions and the persons employed or associated with them who conduct research into gambling addiction do not always obtain the required research data easily.
“To facilitate this, the law provides that all online licence holders are obliged, subject to conditions, to make anonymous data available to research institutions on request for research into gambling addiction.”
It adds: “This data is important for scientific research, the development of new scientific insights into problematic gaming behaviour, and the development of intervention methods tailored to the player to prevent the transition from recreational to problematic gaming behaviour as much as possible.”
The new legislation follows the launch of the Netherlands’ regulated online gambling market on October 2.
The Dutch government has claimed success for a clampdown on unlicensed gambling operators coinciding with the launch of the regulated market.
Meanwhile, René Jansen, chair of the national regulator, De Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has said that the size of the Dutch online gambling market is “larger than we previously thought” following an initial report on the first two months of regulated online gambling.
