KSA Thanks Minister Dekker for Service, Warns Operators over Advertising

Sander Dekker, the Dutch minister of Legal Protection, will step down from his post in January as the country’s outgoing government passes the reins onto the next. Dekker will not be a part of Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s fourth term and will pass on the baton to Franc Weerwind.

Dekker Withdraws from Post on January 10

As a minister for Legal Protection, Dekker has been an outspoken critic of illegal gambling, often picking bones with established international brands when he thought consumer safety was at risk.

While his stance on gambling had been one that always required one-hundred-percent compliance with existing legal statutes, he also advocated for a more liberal approach to gambling.

It was through his negotiations that he helped the Remote Gambling Act come into force, even though the legislation proved a dogged bone among policymakers who picked numerous issues with it over the years.

Dekker’s pragmatism allowed the gambling industry to finally take shape and launch on October 1, 2021, with 10 legal operators to the fore. While a lot had been achieved under his watch, Dekker himself has said that protecting consumers is a perennial chase.

The Kansspelautoriteit, the country’s gambling regulator, praised Dekker for his work and the clarity he had brought in the gambling sector during his stint. Rene Jansen, the watchdog’s chair, said that Dekker had always been prepared to reach out and work together with the institution to ensure better consumer protections for everyone.

Dekker made “gaming history,” Jansen stated in his blogpost. He also took the opportunity to welcome the incoming minister and hurried to update him on what some of the issues he would have to tackle were, including improved supervision of the regulated market and ensuring that the public interest is always protected.

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Jansen dedicated another part of the statement to the future ahead for gambling operators in the Netherlands. This will be the first full year that gambling has been regulated and it will bring with it challenges as well as opportunities, the KSA explained.

For one, Jansen recommended to operators to slow down on their advertisement campaigns and to not “overdo it.” In the meantime, the country has already been discussing gambling advertisement, a hot-button topic for many policymakers.

Jansen did say that the experience from other countries indicated that governments had had to act on numerous occasions to restrict the scope of advertisement as it breached certain rules. For the time being, Jansen advocates for moderation over a profusion of gambling advertisements.

The regulator has already issued a warning to an unnamed license holder over airing ads during live sports contests. Previously, the regulator warned Holland Casino over violation of the country’s advertising ban.