Q&A: Justin Franssen explains the Dutch market's next steps

Despite political posturing in the country and a perceived weakness in the current cabinet, there is every expectation that regulatory movement in the Netherlands will see the market open up in 2016.

And with the market estimated to be worth up to €330m in 2016 by Global Betting and Gaming Consultants, the Netherlands looks set to be a key battleground for international egaming operators in the coming years.

After speaking at last week’s eGaming Review Breakfast Briefing organised in conjunction with Gaming in Holland, eGR caught up with Kalf Katz & Franssen attorney Justin Franssen to discuss the next steps for the Dutch market and what operators can do in the meantime.

eGaming Review (eGR): What’s next for the regulating Dutch market?

Justin Franssen (JF): First and foremost we’re awaiting answers from the Ministry for Security and Justice to the 586 questions that came out of the Lower House on the bill. The general expectation is that the Ministry will provide these answers in the course of January.

eGR: And after that is it a case of waiting for lower regulation?

JF: The Ministry is working on the lower regulation, ideally speaking the lower regulation will be released at the same time as the answers to the parliamentary questions. Whether that is doable is, in my view, rather doubtful. At this point it is fair to assume the draft lower regulation will come out afterwards, probably in February or even March.

That lower regulation will also go into public consultation and industry stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment and submit views. That’s an important moment and we’ve seen in the past that submissions into a consultation have a positive impact on the overall quality of legislation. A number of suggestions from stakeholders have been considered by the authorities and have led to certain amendments to the primary remote gaming bill.

eGR: Is any of the political posturing in the country likely to stand in the way of the bill?

JF: The government is currently rather weak, we are in the middle of the so-called ‘Christmas Crisis’ which relates to a health care reform bill that -quite unexpectedly- didn’t pass in senate. Furthermore, it is possible that after the initial round of questions are answered an additional round of questions could be submitted. Moreover it is not unthinkable that some members of parliament may ask for a roundtable. All these elements could add to further delays.

eGR: Are there any surprises expected in the secondary legislation?

JF: There’s nothing in the public domain yet as to what exactly the lower regulation will contain, but of course the devil is in the detail. With the lower regulation it’s important it strikes the right balance between the interests of the consumer, the regulator and the industry. If the lower regulation becomes too rigid or unworkable this will have a serious knock-on effect of the channelisation levels which the Dutch government is trying to reach which is currently set at 80%. Lessons learned from other jurisdictions are quite clear: regulation will only work properly if it is consumer friendly.

eGR: What should operators be doing if they’re hopeful of attaining a licence

JF: It is generally speaking advisable to stick to the current policy as published by the regulator. Other than that there is the option to express interest for a remote gaming license with the Gaming Authority. It’s not mandatory to do this and operators that don’t will still be eligible to apply for a license in due course. The regulator expressed there’s a number of interests for them in doing this: they want to “get to know the operator”, and it is an indicative tool for the authority to estimate how many applications they eventually will have to process. The KSA also indicated that there will be meetings with operators and those operators that have expressed interest may be invited to these meetings.