The Netherlands’ regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has issued an updated Responsible Gaming Policy Rule, setting a new deposit limit of €300 for players aged 18-24 and €700 for players over 24.

Announcing the revised rules on June 3, KSA highlighted the new deposit limits as a significant advancement in fostering a safer gambling environment for young people.

Immediate Implementation and Future Changes

The Responsible Gaming Policy Rule was published in the Netherlands’ Official Gazette and took immediate effect. However, KSA noted that specific policies, including the deposit limits, will be implemented starting October 1. This delay allows for necessary IT adjustments and gives operators time to recruit new employees to manage the changes.

Starting October 1, operators must conduct financial checks on young players (ages 18-24) depositing €300 or more to ensure they can afford to gamble that amount. For those over 24, this threshold is set at €700. If a player cannot afford the deposit, the operator must block any further deposits for that month.

Operators can only deviate from the €300 limit in exceptional circumstances, such as for professional poker players needing to deposit larger amounts for tournaments.

Stricter Real-Time Monitoring

The revised Responsible Gaming Policy Rule also mandates stricter “real-time” monitoring of player behavior. Both land-based and online operators must intervene within an hour of detecting potentially harmful gambling behavior, such as excessive participation. This 24-hour monitoring aims to prevent gambling-related harm by addressing signs like:

• Gambling for extended hours at night
• Continuous betting
• Repeated depositing

The KSA defines gambling for over six hours a day as a potential sign of gambling harm.

“With this policy rule, the Gaming Authority aims to further flesh out the laws and regulations that apply to the recruitment and advertising activities of license holders and to the addiction prevention policy and its implementation by license holders, where applicable,” states the publication in the Official Gazette.

Rationale for Rule Amendments

In September 2023, KSA conducted a study on how ten operators managed their duty of care. The study involved collecting data on player monitoring, player behavior, and addiction prevention policies. The regulator found that operators did not consistently intervene with at-risk players in a timely manner.

The study’s findings, along with recent changes to gambling advertising rules and a role model ban, prompted KSA to draft amendments to its Responsible Gambling Policy Rule. The draft underwent a consultation process, receiving 33 responses from operators, trade bodies, and addiction experts. Most feedback focused on addiction prevention.

Netherlands’ Ongoing Regulatory Efforts

The amendments to the Responsible Gaming Policy are part of the Netherlands’ broader efforts to tighten gambling regulations. In May, a coalition agreement proposed raising the gambling tax from 30.5% to 37.8%. In April, the Dutch House of Representatives voted to ban both online gambling advertising and “high risk” online gambling, including slots.

Additionally, research by the Keurmerk Responsible Affiliates (KVA) revealed that illegal operators in the Netherlands accepted bets from minors. Peter-Paul de Goeij, director of the Netherlands Online Gambling Association, anticipated a “rigorous” response from KSA following these findings.

KSA has also imposed several fines on unlicensed operators offering their services in the Netherlands. Notably, Sarah Eternal was fined €280,000 per week for operating without a license, and Casbit received a warning for a similar offense.

Source: “NL regulator sets €300 deposit limit for players aged 18-24”. iGaming Business. June 3, 2024

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The Keystone State gambling regulator, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has slapped Wind Creek Bethlehem with a $125,000 fine over the casino’s failure to prevent dozens of players from entering illegally on the casino floor.

A Few Bad Apples Spoil the Casino Basket

As a result, 11 underage guests aged 18-20 were able to participate in gambling on the casino floor in 10 instances. The PGCB had to go a long way back to discover the infringements, which attests to its capabilities as a watchdog, and also that no breaking of the state’s gambling laws is likely to go unnoticed.

The period of the reported incidents ranges from November 2021 through September 2023. Yet, the onus is not entirely on the casino, and underage individuals have also faced ramifications over their actions. Some of the visitors were permanently banned from the venue, and others were warned by the state police.

In the meantime, the PGCB has itself been trying to raise awareness for underage gambling, trying to drive the message home that gambling when too young exposes players to an unnecessary risk that could grow into addiction down the road.

Although underage gamblers do happen to hit the floor successfully, which mandates constant improvement of the standards used by casinos to police floors. For the most part, Wind Creek Bethlehem checks the IDs of patrons who may look too young.

In the two years the violations were registered, members of staff were able to check 737,257 individual IDs, demonstrating a strong commitment by the casino to ensure that it does not allow underage gamblers to play.

Regardless, the ultimate fault is said to lie with the property, which will have to continue tightening measures to prevent further infringements in the future.

No Way Out for Casinos Who Allow Underage Gambling

At the same meeting discussing the Wind Creek Bethlehem cases, the board also discussed the case of a woman who had been put on the involuntary exclusion list in the state after she left her four-year-old child in the parking lot while she went inside to gamble. The case dates back to 2017.

“Adults are prohibited from leaving minors unattended in the parking lot or garage, a hotel, or other venues at a casino since it creates a potentially unsafe and dangerous environment for the children,” the regulator said, motivating its decision to not lift the suspension. The woman has not been formally identified either back when the accident occurred or in the latest PGCB transcript.

The PGCB has been busy this year, issuing six-figure penalties earlier in 2024 to two offending casino properties.

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Hitting a jackpot or a major win while gambling at a casino always brings excitement. To the lucky few that are able to experience such a thrill, they will undoubtedly remember it for the rest of their lives. And while some may gamble for years without any luck of winning any good prizes, others may be extremely lucky, which is the case of an Ohio resident who recently visited Las Vegas for his 21st birthday.

Damon Howell, a Union City, Ohio, resident, decided to celebrate his birthday by visiting the gambling capital of the world. Turning 21, the young man was able to start gambling. But little did Howell expect that luck was on his side from his first steps into gambling. In celebration of his 21st birthday, the young man visited the LINQ Hotel+ Experience, a renowned luxury hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

A Six-Figure Win after 30 Minutes of Play

Once turning 21, Howell started playing at the casino. To his surprise, some 30 minutes after starting to play, the man hit a staggering jackpot of more than $300,000. Playing at the LINQ’s O’Shea’s pit, the young man hit the MEGA Progressive jackpot, taking a whopping $362,640 from playing Ultimate Texas Hold’em.

As announced by 23WIFR, the young man appeared “overwhelmed with shock and disbelief,” in light of the massive jackpot win. The young man did not disclose specific details about what he intends to do with the grand prize he won from playing Ultimate Texas Hold’em. Still, Howell admitted that buying his own house is definitely a plausible option, considering the massive $360,000 jackpot he won recently.

Back in April, Caesars turned to the seasoned veteran, Kim Harris Jones, for the role of member of its Board of Directors. Labeled as a strategic appointment, the hire brought extensive experience to the Board.

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South Korea is seeing a concerning rise in gambling among teenagers. While iGaming is strictly prohibited in the country, young players often find ways to circumvent the rules and restrictions.

Unfortunately, the rise of online gambling among younger players also means that addiction treatment institutions are struggling to provide services to all affected players. In fact, the National Center for Youth Internet Addiction Treatment is the only establishment that offers such programs.

The center is run by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and offers 12-day rehabilitation programs for people struggling with gambling addiction. To help patients cope with the absence of gambling and overcome their addiction, the program offers a variety of activities, including sports and playing music. However, the program fails to hold the attention of many younger participants.

Shim Yong-chool, the center’s director, told The Korea Herald that despite the short duration of the program, many teenagers fail to complete it and quit early. For example, he noted that only 12 of the 17 recently admitted teens managed to complete the entire program.

This shows that the center, which opened in 2015, is struggling to help the increasing number of problem players.

Young Players Are More Prone to Becoming Addicted

Shim noted that many young addicts fail to resist their urges. In addition, the proliferation of online gambling continues to highlight the need to reinforce South Korea’s capacity to deal with gambling harm.

Data shows that the number of teenagers being treated for gambling addiction has skyrocketed by 75% in just four years. In addition, the National Police Agency’s recent crackdown on online gambling saw 353 people arrested, 39 of whom were juveniles. Survey shows that some 28,838 are at risk of developing gambling problems.

According to Lee Hae-kook, a professor from the Catholic University of Korea College of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry, teenagers are a very vulnerable demographic because they are already immersed in the digital sector. Internet access from an early age increases their chance of coming across gambling content and starting to gamble themselves.

According to Lee Byung-chul, a professor from Hallym University College of Medicine’s Department of Neurology, gambling addiction, even if treated fairly quickly, can cause serious problems in young people’s neurological development. According to him, the state needs to fund systems that connect schools, mental health institutions and youth facilities.

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The gaming regulator in the Netherlands, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), slapped Bingoal with a €400,000 ($428,000) fine for targeting young adults with advertising messages.

Targeting Young Adults

The hefty financial sanction dished out to Bingoal is the fifth slapped by the KSA on gambling operators under the same investigation for violations of the regulations prohibiting games of chance advertising to be aimed at young people.

The KSA investigation concluded that Bingoal breached the underlying regulations of the Betting and Gaming Act, namely Article 2, Paragraph 4, preamble and (a) of the Decree on Recruitment, Advertising and Addiction Prevention of Games of Chance by sending advertising messages to users aged between 18 and 24 between October 12, 2021, and March 15, 2022.

Young adults (18-24) are considered a vulnerable group due to the extreme susceptibility of the human brain at this age to develop a gambling addiction and to protect them from these risks the law prohibits operators from targeting that age group with direct advertising messages.

The Legal Certainty Principle

In its defense, Bingoal did not deny sending the advertising messages during the aforementioned period, arguing that the messages were not specifically aimed at young adults but were rather general advertising messages directed at players, claiming that just because these messages happened to reach young adults does not constitute a violation of the Article 2, Paragraph 4, (a) of the advertising and addiction prevention decree.

Bingoal focused on the part of the legal standard containing the words “aiming at,” arguing that there are several ways of interpreting this one of which is that it pertains to the content of the advertisement and not to its scope, and is therefore putting the standard in conflict with the legal certainty (lex certa) principle.

Bingoal concluded that its advertisements were not targeted at young adults and that it has not violated Article 4a, Paragraph 2 of the Betting and Gaming Act and Article 2, Paragraph 4, preamble and (a) of the advertising and addiction prevention decree.

Operator’s Second Transgression

The financial sanction imposed on Bingoal is the second for the gambling operator since the start of 2022, following the €350,000 ($375,000) it received from the Dutch gaming regulator in February when the KSA found the operator in breach of the regulation related to the national gambling self-exclusion register, Cruks.

Another recently punished operator by the Dutch gambling regulator was Merkur Casino Almere which was fined €45,000 last month for multiple occasions of letting a Cruks-registered customer enter the casino premises and gamble.

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The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), a body that regulates gambling in the Netherlands, has reported that the casino operator Betent has breached the local advertising standards. The gaming company’s prohibited actions have earned it a fine, the regulator added.

As reported, Betent’s Betcity.nl online gaming brand promoted gaming content to young adults – people aged 18 to 24. For reference, this is strictly forbidden under Dutch law as it is considered to constitute advertising to a vulnerable target group.

Following a broadcast on Kassa, a local TV program, the KSA launched an investigation and found out that the operator had been violating this rule between October 2021 and March 2022.
In its announcement, the KSA noted:

The brains of young people are still developing. As a result, they are extra susceptible to gambling addiction.

KSA statement

Betent Will Have to Pay a Fine

As it turns out, Betent had been incentivizing people aged 18-24 to play for months. While they weren’t the operator’s only target audience, many such people received promotional messages, inviting them to play with Betcity.nl.

As a result, the KSA slapped Betent, Betcity’s parent company, with a €400,000 (roughly 438,000, current conversion rates) fine.

René Jansen, chairman of the Kansspelautoriteit, commented on the matter, highlighting the importance of protecting young people from gambling harm. He reiterated that the law prohibits casino companies from targeting young adults with their marketing campaigns.

Jansen added that the Kansspelautoriteit will continue to closely monitor the sector and sanction companies that violate these guidelines. He concluded that it is important for gaming companies to respect the rules and protect vulnerable customers from harm and addiction.

The Netherlands Will Ban Untargeted Ads

The current fine comes in the wake of other fines the KSA handed following its investigation. In the past month, three gaming companies were found guilty of breaching the Dutch regulations on advertising and penalized as a result. The fine handed to Betent is the fourth fine handed as a result of this investigation.

At the beginning of this month, Franc Weerwind, the Dutch minister for legal protection, commented on the topic of gambling advertisements and said that the government will proceed with its ban on untargeted ads.

Weerwind explained that, unfortunately, gambling companies rarely can be trusted with self-regulating their marketing activity. Some of them, he noted, have been actively marketing their products even when they have been asked by the KSA to be mindful of their audiences.

The Netherlands plans to ban untargeted ads from July 1 this year.

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