Dutch government to outlaw use of existing player databases
Government targets level-playing field for new market entrants when regulated market goes live in 2021
Operators seeking a licence in Holland’s regulated online gambling market will be banned from utilising player databases acquired during the unregulated era, according to the Dutch government.
Responding to questions in parliament, Minister of Justice and Security Sander Dekker confirmed all prospective licensees would only be allowed to offer licensed gambling to newly acquired customers.
Justifying his stance, Dekker claimed existing operator databases would not be compliant with new Dutch standards.
“After all, that database was built up during a period in which remote games of chance were not regulated in the Netherlands and without the new strict rules regarding, among other things, gambling advertising and the recruitment of players, the selection of players at registration and with regard to addiction prevention have been observed,” said Dekker.
“The old database therefore does not meet the requirements of the new regulations and should therefore not be used,” Dekker added.
Dekker said while there may be “consequences” for channelisation in the new Dutch market, the objective of protecting consumers superseded any other concerns.
In enforcing this, Dekker added the Dutch government would introduce licensing requirements to prohibit prior database use, with the aim of introducing a level playing field for all prospective operators.
“This means that this provider, like the new entrants to the Dutch online gambling market, must still build up its Dutch customer base in accordance with the new rules and thus start with an empty customer base,” Dekker claimed.
Minister Dekker also revealed applicants would face an “intensive reliability assessment” by the Dutch regulator (KSA), with prior instances of illegal gambling serving as one of the means of assessing operator reliability.
However, to assist operators in transitioning from the unregulated era into the new regulated market license the KSA will relax the weight of previous illegal gambling in its assessment to aid “smooth channelisation”.
Dekker confirmed the relaxation of assessment standards would only occur if licensees had not offered Dutch gambling for a “cooling-off” period of two-and-a-half years.