Online betting and casino games are banned in Holland, but the act will legalise and regulate online gambling.

And to try and ensure the safety of gamblers, KSA is proceeding with caution.

It has launched an Addiction Prevention Fund (Vpf) which will be financed by an extension of a gambling levy to aid its gambling prevention and harm network.

There are three main objectives the KSA wants to focus on; these have all been specified by law.

These include: treating gambling addiction anonymously, researching prevention and treatment for addiction, and devising a national counter for problem players and their loved ones.

KSA had already started a tendering procedure for the national prevention counter in June 2020. The counter is set to start operating from 1 October 2021; the same day the legal market for online gambling opens in Holland. 

As for its research, KSA has chosen government health and welfare agency, ZonMW. Commissioned in August 2020, the organisation will develop a research program for the prevention of gambling addiction.

ZonMW will open its first funding round for research from October 2021.

Anonymous treatment for gambling addiction will be fulfilled by existing subsidy scheme ‘anonymous e-mental health’. The National Health Care Institute will operate this scheme and will receive funding from the Vpf.