SiGMA Europe 2024: All about the panel on possible ban on advertising in games in northern Europe

In the context of the theme “Regulation and Compliance”, this conference featured the participation of industry experts such as the moderator James Scicluna of WH Partners and David Yatom Hay, general counsel of Soft2Bet , Justin Franssen, Attorney at law & Partner Kalff Katz & Franssenand and Dr Simon Planzer lawyer and partner at PLANZER LAW AG, a highly specialized law firm based in Switzerland who examined the real impact of advertising bans on the player protection and market stability.

In this framework, they debated whether the advertising bans had a real effect or, on the contrary, generated a result contrary to what they sought to combat. Initially introduced without extensive empirical testing, they have achieved their intended goals of reducing problem gambling.  In this sense, moderator Scicluna highlighted that not having advertising will lead players to operators outside of regulation.

 Within the debate it was said that “What we see is that the biggest problem we have is that the continuation of these restrictions is actually encouraging more unregulated risks. Traders entering the market actually achieve the opposite goal. And that is a fact. That is clearly what is happening right now.”

 Regulation in the Dutch market

The problem of the Dutch gambling market was another central topic of the talk. In this sense, Justin Franssen Justin Franssen, Attorney at law & Partner Kalff Katz & Franssen spoke specifically about the changes in the Dutch market, where restrictions have become increasingly stronger. He referred to the so-called “Orca decree”, a Dutch regulation limiting advertising in the Netherlands, introduced in response to excessive television marketing, which has forced operators to limit their reach, particularly to vulnerable groups. The panelists collectively emphasized that while responsible gaming is a priority, regulation must balance the protection of players with the industry's ability to operate effectively.

They then referred to an extensive report on gambling in the Netherlands that “Basically what it says is that 70% of the Dutch gaming population did not play in the previously unregulated environment, so players are new and of those 20% are young adults.”

James then emphasized that “We are seeing a fundamental change in the way of thinking about gambling in the Netherlands” and added “But in reality what is happening is that the industry is suffering from this perception that it is a matter of public health and should therefore be lumped into an issue similar to that of cigarettes. Would that be a fair way to summarize it? Sorry. First of all, yes, it would be fair, but I think what I would recommend is to try to avoid some extreme situations.”

 Then they said that “from the análisis gambling bans are ineffective economically because if they're driving business to the black market, they're reducing tax revenues from the State. They are arguably ineffective from a player protection point of view because if they're driving business to the black marken. t, then there are no restrictions and there's no player protection there”.

In closing he concluded that “Having a total ban and not having any control over advertising is unnecessary from both perspectives. We need to have some kind of balance of perspective between the regulatory approach and the commercial approach because if you don't put yourself in the middle, neither of them will be happy and it's just a restrictive disaster for both parts.”