The Netherlands’ gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) could receive more powers to chase away illegal operators from the country.
This was hinted at by the Dutch State Secretary for Legal Protection, Teun Struycken, after a set of MP questions during the Tuesday House of Representatives plenary session.
The questions were in response to a recently broadcasted TV programme, in which MP Mirjam Bikker from the Christian Union party discussed the increase of gambling advertisements promoting illegal operators to Dutch customers.
During her appearance, Casinonieuws.nl wrote, Bikker commented on the need to tighten the market access restrictions, which could potentially be achieved by granting the KSA the ability to directly exercise control over internet providers by issuing blocking orders for illegal websites.
The KSA was restricted in this regard by a voting majority back in 2016, when a motion was adopted with 116 votes in favour of having the regulator’s competencies limited when it comes to hunting down illegal websites.
“No government interference with the technical operation of the Internet is an essential condition for the proper functioning of the Internet,” said Judith Swinkels and Kees Verhoeven from the Democrats 66 Party in 2016 as part of the reasoning behind the amendments.
Things have since changed however, and with the last part of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA) reforms rapidly approaching in October, Struycken might try to push a last-minute amendment through the door so that the KSA receives additional powers.
“It is important to pay attention to this; it concerns an illegal provider. The law provides for market regulation. An essential distinction in market regulation is that regulated parties are carefully monitored and that illegal parties are dealt with harshly,” the Legal Protection Secretary said on Tuesday.
“The problem with illegal parties, as it turned out in the broadcast, is that they are difficult to deal with. They are fleeting parties, who repeatedly find ways, very cunning and also very quickly, to continue their illegal activities.”
Struycken recently fell into the reformists’ spotlight again after MP Michiel van Nispen of the Socialist Party demanded a more committed policy against all forms of gambling ads in the Netherlands, to which the Legal Protection Secretary produced a reserved answer.
The most important thing for Struycken in his current tenure will be to find the right balance between producing restrictive policies while allowing for a competitive sector to grow, otherwise he might risk being accused of swinging his powers as a political club against the industry.