Dutch Watchdog Highlights Shortcomings with Operator Problem Gambling Interventions

The Netherlands Gambling Authority and the Anonymous Gamblers Environment have conducted a survey together.

Although the survey used a fairly limited sample of only 139 people who were receiving help for gambling-related harm, the results helped the watchdog gain further insight into what motivates gambling behavior and what the consequences of excessive gambling may be. Certain intervention and assistance strategies are.

Gamblers Who Start Early Are Likely to Develop Problems

Much of the Netherlands’ efforts have been focused on stamping out early gambling in young adults of the legal gaming age. Based on the survey, 81% of respondents started gambling before the age of 24, and 46% started before the age of 18, pointing out that early habit formation plays a part in gambling addiction later on.

Respondents said that they gambled both legally and illegally, mostly because there used to be a time when gambling was not regulated in the country. However, some respondents had resorted to illegal gambling because they had already been listed on CRUKS, the national self-exclusion register, but had found the offshore websites to allow them to gamble regardless.

Gambling behavior was motivated by various triggers, but universally, respondents cited an urge to win back money they had spent and lost on gambling. Chasing losses led to other problems and more serious consequences, with nearly half of all respondents saying that they had lost at least €50,000.

Only a quarter of respondents said that they had lost less than €1,000 when they figured out that they needed help.

Operators Are Offering Insufficient Help – Many Miss the Mark Completely

Apart from identifying this behavior, the regulator also tried to figure out whether people were receiving adequate help, with more than half of the people who had joined AGOG in the meantime stopping their gambling over the past two years.

But when it came to licensed companies, the findings were underwhelming, the watchdog said, with weak intervention in cases concerning people who have been experiencing problem gambling. 63% of respondents said that they were never approached personally, and another 83% were never banned from a provider even though they demonstrated addictive behavior.

For people who have restored some semblance of normality to their lives, the fight is not over, as the mass legalization of gambling in the Netherlands has meant that there are many tempting options to explore. Controlling this impulse has proven hard in the age of mass legalization.