The Netherlands’ gambling regulator de Kansspelautoriteit has announced that Minister for Legal Protection, Franc Weerwind, has amended legislation on advertising to include a complete ban on celebrities and people in the public eye from appearing in gambling advertisements.
The ban comes into effect today and covers ads for all high-risk gambling
According to the amendment the ban covers ‘all persons who enjoy some form of public fame or with whom people want to identify or associate themselves’. The minister has stated that the ban is necessary to protect vulnerable groups from addiction and the harms of problem gambling.
The ban will include all current and former professional athletes, models, actors, singers, and even social media influencers. Interestingly, it also includes professional or well-known poker players.
Since online gambling became fully regulated in October of 2021, the industry has boomed and, as a result, the Dutch public have been inundated with gambling ads across all media channels. Licensed gambling companies have said that significant advertising was needed to draw people away from illegal websites that are still currently marketing their services to Dutch players.
Speaking of the need for the amendment to the advertising legal code, Weerwind said:
“Role models can be an appealing image of a successful lifestyle that is especially attractive to young people. We have seen that role models in advertisements can have a pulling effect on getting people to start gambling or play for longer than is justified. To protect vulnerable groups and young people, in particular, I have banned the use of role models.”
The ban come into effect as of today, the 30th June 2022 will be enforced by the Dutch gambling regulator de Kansspelautoriteit and applies to all forms of advertising for what the government labels as high-risk games of chance. This includes Dutch online casino gaming and sports betting. However, charity lotteries and the state lottery are exempt from the ban as they are not deemed high risk.
Gambling ads in the Netherlands face tough restrictions that state that they must not target vulnerable groups or minors. However, Weerwind doesn’t think that they go far enough and is currently working on regulations to ban any untargeted ads for high-risk gambling.
Gambling industry journalist with a background in online poker and trading. Covering the regulated U.S Sports industry and the exciting world of online poker.