Legislation
The Netherlands – Kansspelautoriteit outlines important steps taken for Koa licensing
By Phil - 23 September 2020
Dutch gaming regulator Kansspelautoriteit said it is ‘well on track to be able to process license applications from providers of online games of chance from March 1 2021,’ according to René Jansen, Chairman of the board, who was speaking at a conference in Amsterdam organised by Gaming in Holland.
The Remote Gambling Act, the law that legalises and regulates online gambling, among other things, will enter into force on March 1 2021 according to the current schedule. As soon as the law comes into force, the Ksa can process license applications from online games of chance providers. The Ksa will process these applications over a period of six months. The market for online games of chance will open to providers with a license on 1 September 2021. It remains prohibited to offer games of chance without a license.
René Jansen said: “The Ksa has already taken many necessary steps to make licensing possible. For example, the Central Register of Exclusion Games of Chance(Cruks) has been developed and transferred to a managing party. Furthermore, the Control Database, the instrument with which game providers monitor gaming behaviour and with which the Ksa can supervise remotely, is almost ready. Once the required notification process has been completed at the European Commission, the Ksa will publish the technical conditions. In the past period, a lot of hard work has also been done on policy rules, with which the Ksa translates the legal requirements into implementation practice. A fourth important step that has been taken is the development of a (draft) scheme for the inspection of the gaming system of online games of chance providers. That is now being tested; the final version of the inspection schedule is expected to be announced by the Ksa in November. The Koa communication calendar on the website of the Ksa indicates what can be expected from the Ksa when.”
He also addressed the ‘Postema motion.’ In this motion, passed by the Senate, the Minister for Legal Protection (responsible for games of chance policy) is asked to ensure that providers of online games of chance must refrain from specific and active offers aimed at Dutch consumers for at least two years. Only then will a provider qualify for a permit. René Jansen told his audience that when applying for a permit, the Ksa looks back two years and eight months from the date of the application. The extension of the look-back period is the result of the delay that has occurred in relation to the previously intended entry into force of the law. A provider applying for a license on March 1 2021,
Mr. Jansen stressed the importance of preparing an application on time. “Much is asked,” he said. “Thorough preparation is really necessary. This is in your interest, because you run the risk of not obtaining a permit or not until six months after submitting the application. But the Ksa also prefers to devote its time and energy to careful and complete applications. So there is a common interest here.”
