The Netherlands’ gaming regulator has prodded the Senate to once and for all pass the remote gaming act that has slept deeply inside the lawmakers’ filing cabinets.
In a recent report, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) regulatory body called on the Senate to take a stand against illegal online gambling by passing a bill that will regulate online gambling operations 
in the country. The Netherlands is one of the few European countries that has not legalized online games of chance.
KSA chairman Jan Suyver said the state regulator’s hands are tied in terms of combating illegal online gambling in the country, due to the outdated Dutch gambling law, which dates back to 1964.
Suyver cited the December 27, 2017 ruling of the Administrative Law Division of the Council of State, which ordered the Dutch regulator to cease targeting gambling payment providers.
It would be recalled that the Dutch high court ruled that payment service providers may continue processing transactions from internationally licensed gambling websites, rejecting the state regulator’s arguments that they fall under the “promotion” of games of chance in the Betting and Gaming Act.
Suyver pointed out that the new remote gaming act will give them broader powers to regulate and issue provisional license to online gambling operators. He likened the regulator’s situation of administering gambling in Netherlands without an updated law to “mopping with the tap open.”
“The Gaming Authority has done what it could—and will continue to do—in the last six years in an enforcing sense,” Suyver said in a statement. “But under the current legal regime, when it comes to the online gambling market, the comparison with mopping with the tap opens up somewhat.”
Aside from regulating online gambling, the Dutch regulator also asked for an “addiction fund” and central register for problem gamblers.
“This makes it possible to regulate the market. The Dutch gambler can then safely and reliably take part in online gambling and illegal operations can be tackled.”
In 2016, the Dutch Lower House approved and submitted to the Dutch Senate a bill that would allow interested international operators to apply for a license from the country’s gambling regulatory body.
The bill’s progress in Senate was stalled by the national elections on March 15, 2017 and the formation of the new parliament.
