René Jansen, chair of Dutch regulator de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has hinted that the regulator may set maximum loss limits for operators.
Jansen made the remarks in a speech where he emphasised the duty of care that both the regulators and the public have towards consumers as well as the public at large.
He noted that recent television programmes in the country have illustrated some player protection failings with certain online operators.
As Jansen stated: “a recent episode of the investigative journalist programme Pointer put the spotlight on operators that allowed a gambler to lose tens of thousands of euros without intervening or taking sufficient action.”
Jansen then discussed loss limits. Currently, players are required to set a limit but there are no rules governing how high or low this can be,
“On previous occasions, I expressed my misgivings about the way operators enforce playing limits. There have been instances of playing limits that made it possible to lose up to €100,000 (£85,740/$105,170) and gamble 24/7.”
He continued, comparing the regulatory environment to peer countries: “In Austria, players can deposit a maximum of €800 a week. In Germany, the maximum is €1,000 a month. In Norway, the maximum loss that players can incur is slightly less than €2,000 a month.”
“In Sweden, the operator has a statutory duty to initiate an investigation if a gambler exceeds the deposit limit of €930. These examples serve to illustrate that other avenues are open to the legislator.”
While Jansen did not commit to any explicit policy course, he said that further investigation was required.
“It goes without saying that the KSA, as the regulator, has its own responsibility. That is why we will spend the next period investigating explicitly how our online gambling license holders are putting the main facets of their duty of care into practice.”
“We will not hesitate to intervene if there are evident signals that operators are not complying with the duty of care. This concerns both land-based and online operators. The KSA will make itself heard in the near future.”
The speech comes in the wake of the news that the KSA is investigating potential self-exclusion violations by land-based operators.
