The Netherlands Announces a Blackout for Illegal Gambling Operators

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Banele Nkuna

Banele Nkuna

Editor at casinohex.co.za

My name is Banele Nkuna, and I am thrilled to be a part of the CasinoHEX.co.za team as the second editor. With a passion for online gambling and a deep understanding of the South African market, I have been entrusted with the task of reviewing licensed online casinos and slots and preparing blog posts for our site. Since joining in May 2023, my primary goal has been to provide our readers with valuable insights into the world of online gambling.

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Recently, we’ve reported about the Netherlands being on the path towards the legalisation of a gambling market. It was not known what steps the country’s legislators are going to take in order to make sure this happens.

Today, we know one thing for sure. Illegal operators that are now operating within the country, target Dutch people, or accept players from the Netherlands will be kept away from the market.

This measure will be in force right until the bill about legalisation comes into power, and a regulatory body can start issuing licenses.

To learn more about how Dutch authorities are going to prevent illegal gambling from happening, who are illegal operators, and how this buffer period will be executed, read on.

What is an illegal operator

There appears to be no legal framework for this term as of yet, Richard van Schaik reports. However, what the Minister of Legal Protection means is the operators that either target Dutch audiences directly with online advertising or have a Dutch domain.

It’s unclear how the operators will be identified, as searching through all the web to find the casinos that target the Netherlands is almost unimaginable. It would take an infinite amount of resources.

What the cooling-off period means

This period the Minister was talking about means one thing. All the best online casinos for real money operators that want to do business in the Netherlands will need to stop their activity now, or they will not be eligible for a license.

Even though the licensing process is far from the start, the Minister asks all operators who have a vested interest in the Netherlands to stop working in the region. It’s only the casinos that follow the advice of the Minister that can be granted a license once the legal side of things is dealt with.

How are they going to fight bad actors as of today? The Minister says the Netherlands government could block Dutch payments systems from sending particular types of transactions. Namely, the transactions to these bad actors.

A test of casinos’ behaviour or an attack on them?

Asking the illegal operators to stop operation is only fair, but is this so-called cooling-off period useful for the casinos themselves?

The legalisation of gambling is not ready yet. It’s unclear how much time will it take to complete the bill, vote for it, and wait until it’s in power.

This can be anywhere from a couple of months to a year. Asking businesses that you’re going to make legal soo stop working is just counterproductive. The best thing that the Netherlands can achieve with this is that by the time they’re ready to issue licenses, all the moral operators are out of business. It’s only the bad actors that are left.

In any case, the decision on the cooling period is not made just yet. Follow us to learn how the situation changes.