The gambling regulatory body of the Netherlands, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has released more detailed information about its intentions to offer operating licenses to international online gambling companies. The beginning of the week saw the regulator unveil some broader terms that it is to take into consideration the applications for online gambling licenses.
The terms are still broader than necessary since the country’s Ministry of Justice and Security is still working on the final version of its gambling policy. The KSA has revealed that it is willing to start accepting online gambling license applications by July 1st, 2020. According to information provided by the watchdog, the regulated online gambling market in the Netherlands is expected to officially start operation on January 1st, 2021.
The newly-released details regarding the conditions under which online gambling licenses will be given would allow potential applicants to prepare for the licensing process. The latter is set to start as soon as the country’s Remote Gambling Act is brought into action. However, currently, it remains unknown when the Act is to come into effect.
The piece of legislation under which the local online gambling sector is to be legalized provides requirements for future license holders. For the time being, the country’s gambling regulatory body provides only general information for potential applicants. The newly-unveiled details are expected to be helpful for the operators that could seek remote gambling licenses, even though the subordinate legislation under the Remote Gambling Act is not final.
Application Process Would Be Held in Dutch and Would Cost €45,000
As explained by Kansspelautoriteit, the applications for online gambling licenses would be processed digitally in the Dutch language, so applicants would be required to provide a translation into Dutch of all official documents.
The application fee would be set at €45,000. The KSA further noted that in case a company is not granted an operating license, no refund of the application fee would be made.
The competent authorities will process the applications only in case they have been fully completed, the applicants are clearly identified and the aforementioned fee has been paid. Some additional documents to support these facts could be subjected to a requirement from the KSA.
As revealed by the gambling regulatory body of the Netherlands, operators would be able to apply for four types of games of chance licenses. These include casino games in which players against each other, casino games in which players against the casino (the license holder), betting on results of horse racing and hard trotting, and betting on sports events or the outcome of a sports competition. In other words, online gambling companies would be able to apply for offering casino games, poker, race betting and sports betting services.
One of the most important aspects of online gambling applications that would be considered by the KSA’s board of directors would be the reliability and responsibility that the company demonstrates. Several subjects will be dealt with in the permit application, including reliability, expertise, continuity and separated player credits, prevention of problem gambling and gambling-related harm, the advertising and marketing strategies used by the gambling operators to promote their services, as well as the consumer protection they have in place. The KSA will also check the practices used by the companies to manage match-fixing risks, as well as their compliance with anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing legislation.
Of course, the gambling watchdog of the Netherlands would also make checks on the ways an applicant deals with so-called integrity risks and review the way how its integrity policy is applied and maintained. Payment transactions would be subjected to in-depth checks too, as well as players’ identification and verification within the applicants’ systems. Moreover, under the provisions of the Remote Gambling Act, the online gambling companies that receive an operating license from the KSA would be required to support a Control Database (CDB) to which the country’s watchdog would have access.
