Dutch regulator, Kansspelautoriteit, has announced another delay in the implementation of the country’s Remote Gambling Act, this time nudging its aforementioned timeline back by one month.

This means that the Act will enter into force on Thursday 1 April, one month later than the previously stipulated date of Monday 1 March which itself represented the latest in a number of delays.

That date at the turn of March constituted a two month delay from a revised January 1, 2021, date, which itself was pushed back six months from July 1, 2020.

Sander Dekker, minister for legal protection, who is responsible for games of chance policy, has confirmed the latest delay in a letter to the Dutch House of Representatives.

This revised timeline means that from April 1, 2021, license applications can be submitted to the Gaming Authority for the provision of online games of chance in the Netherlands. The online gambling market will open six months later, October 1, 2021.

Confirming the decision, Dekker said that the reason to postpone is “so that the games of chance authority and the games of chance sector have sufficient opportunity for their complete preparations”.

The law contains an extensive package of measures to prevent gambling addiction, combat gambling-related fraud and crime, impose stricter restrictions on advertising and protect players.

From the aforementioned date of the market opening, both country-specific providers and online counterparts must be affiliated with CRUKS.

In a prior media release the Ksa said: “The Remote Games of Chance Act legalises and regulates online games of chance under strict conditions, but it also has consequences for the current country-based providers of risky games of chance. 

“For example, arcades and locations of Holland Casino will have strict requirements in the field of addiction prevention and advertising.”