KSA Adds Experts to Objections Advisory Committee

The independent administrative body that supervises and regulates gambling services in the European side of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has announced that Adriane Koppe and Monique van Oers would be taking over their chairmanship duties from J.M.E. Feije. Feije’s term will expire in June.

The KSA Decided to Split the Role Between Two Chairpersons

The reason why Kansspelautoriteit decided to split the chairperson position between two people was due to the increase recorded in the number of sanction decisions. As a consequence, KSA also recorded a larger number of objection procedures.

Chairman René Jansen expressed content for having found “two worthy successors for J.M.E. Feije,” while also acknowledging her efforts and thanking her for them. Jansen also added that the administrative body founded in 2012 by the industry with the help of gambling levies considered itself “very fortunate” to be joined by the two knowledgeable and well-experienced chairpersons who will tackle their objection procedures in the future.

Both Chairpersons to Serve for Three Years

The body that is governed by a board of directors also announced that Koppe and van Oers will each be serving a three-year term. Koppe is currently a lecturer in constitutional and administrative law at The Hague University of Applied Sciences, a position she has occupied since August 2016. Van Oers is the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets’ (ACM) director of legal affairs, a position she has occupied for more than a decade. 

For close to seven years between 1990 and 1997, Van Oers was also director of the legal department and team manager for The Netherlands’ Competition Authority which merged into ACM on April 1, 2013. Van Oers was also a lawyer for De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. 

KSA’s Strategy for 2020-2024

While preserving an objective view of gambling, the authority considers it is essential for the activity to be safe and fair. Their main purpose is to nurture a world “where gambling services are reliable, operators are transparent and players are protected.”

As a declared mission, the KSA wishes to make sure that consumers can play safely. To do this, they will continue to protect consumers, prevent gambling addiction, and fight off illegal and criminal practices. 

One of their latest actions targeted two lottery operators, Postcode Loterij and VriendenLoterij, for providing online games that they were not legally allowed to offer according to their current lottery license statuses. The two operators are now facing fines of up €1 million ($1.07 million) provided they do not put a stop to their activities. 

Before that, the KSA issued another fine worth €45,000 ($48,000) to Merkur Casino for enabling a player that had used the self-exclusion options to enter the premises in Almere.

In March, the authority imposed a €4,4 million ($4.7 million) financial penalty against Gammix Limited for providing services to customers in the Netherlands without a license.