Consumer protection organisation criticises Dutch gambling advertising code
Consumentenbond (CB) has quit discussions with Dutch gambling companies and the advertising code commission regarding the advertising code.
CB, a non-profit organisation promoting consumer protection, considers the advertising code to be flawed and wants to prevent it from coming into effect when online gambling becomes legal in the Netherlands on 1 October.
The aim of the discussions was to agree on both tone and limits of the gambling-related ads number, but according to the Consumentenbond, the gambling companies have not succeeded to come up with a code to protect vulnerable and at-risk players.
The initial advertising plan included a limit of three ads per television advertising block, but it will not be implemented. CB also objected to a proposal of ads being fronted by celebrities as the audience for said ads would be made up of 30% children and adolescents. Current online gambling legislation limits television advertising to after 9pm.
CB Director Sandra Molenaar said: “An advertising code needs to contain conditions which are more stringent than laws. But what has been proposed so far by the gambling sector is offering less protection, not more. That’s no good.”
Among the ten winners of a licence to provide online gambling in the Dutch market, there are two companies owned by the Dutch state (the Holland Casino and the state lottery company Nederlandse Loterij). Both companies’ licences allow them to offer roulette, poker and sports betting.
Fair Play and BetCity (also Dutch companies) along with six foreign firms (four based in Malta, one in the UK and another one in Belgium) have had their licences approved and will offer online gambling starting with 1 October.
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