Online gambling operators seeking new Netherlands licenses will have to demonstrate nearly three years of compliance before their applications will be considered by the local regulator.

On Tuesday, René Jansen, chairman of the Netherlands’ Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) regulatory body, gave a keynote address at the Gaming in Holland conference in Amsterdam. Jansen’s speech focused on the country’s plans to launch a regulated online gambling market on September 1, 2021.

Jansen (pictured) claimed that “the countdown has started” towards the Remote Gambling Act taking effect on March 1, 2021, after which would-be licensees can “in all likelihood” begin submitting applications, with the regulated market launching six months later. At least, that’s the current plan, which has undergone multiple revisions over the past few years as the KSA and the government struggled to get their Act together.

Jansen said the KSA has handed operational control of its Central Exclusion Register (Cruks) to its managing party Netcompany. The associated Data Safe (CDB), to which all online licensees must connect so their monitoring of gamblers can be monitored by the KSA, is currently being notified to the European Commission. The KSA expects to publish the CDB’s technical requirements “probably” in October.