Dutch government slams minister over untargeted gambling adverts inactivity
Newly-appointed Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind under fire for the slow implementation of a ban on untargeted gambling adverts.
Minister Franc Weerwind faced questions from the Dutch House of Representatives last week about why he has been slow to implement a motion to ban untargeted gambling ads.
The House of Representatives questioned Weerwind over his failure to execute a previously agreed parliamentary motion, to ban untargeted adverts for high-risk games of chance.
In the last few days, Weerwind’s predecessor Sander Dekker said that he thought it was “too early” for a ban on television and radio adverts, which are “irritating and misleading” in the eyes of a majority of the House of Representatives.
By means of a parliamentary debate, Socialist Party (SP) MP Michiel van Nispen wanted to hear not if but when Weerwind will bring the ban into force.
He called the fact it had not been in effect as of yet “principally wrong” and incited that more gambling in the Netherlands was “not desirable”. Van Nispen commented: “We don’t want Las Vegas on the North Sea.”
Responding to the comments from parliament, Weerwind said: “Let me assure you that the Ministry of Justice and Security is already fully engaged in this. The ministry is investigating the legal implications and is discussing the options with various stakeholders.”
Weerwind cited this as the main reason the motion had not been implemented yet. The newly-appointed minister said he would put “maximum effort” towards this but needed more time to investigate because of the legal implications.
Weerwind has said that there needs to be a certain level of advertising from licensed operators to ensure channelisation and to prevent the spread of the Dutch unlicensed market. The government set the target of an 80% channelisation rate, which Weerwind has suggested had already been achieved.
He referred back to the objectives of the Remote Gambling Act that came into effect in April 2021, which include addiction prevention, consumer protection and the combatting of fraud and money laundering in the Dutch market.
ChristenUnie MP Don Ceder questioned Weerwind’s need to overcomplicate the process saying: “I hear the minister say that he should investigate the legal implications, but an advertising ban can be arranged with a small amendment to the law,”
Responding to the comments, Weerwind issued a strong rebuke, saying: “Legislative changes in the Netherlands take two years. If I put a lot of pressure, it might be possible in a year. But I can’t do more than promise to stretch myself to the limit.’
“A ban can’t happen overnight, but only step by step,” he added.
Advertising has proven to be a significant bone of contention for the Dutch, with previous parliamentary attempts to implement a full advertising ban for gambling-related services as well as tobacco-style ad restrictions both defeated in parliament in 2019.
In September the Dutch Media Authority signed an agreement with the KSA to monitor gambling advertising by operators. An operator-led voluntary code of conduct for gambling advertising and GambleAware-style slogan to prevent gambling-related harm have also been introduced.