René Jansen, Chairman of Netherlands gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has been appointed as the new Chairman of the European Forum of Gaming Regulators (GREF).
The Dutch executive will serve as the lead representative of the regulatory forum, which encourages collaboration and knowledge sharing between its 41 members across 34 European gaming jurisdictions.
Jansen will replace Jorn Stark, Executive Director of the Alderney Gaming Control Commission, as GREF Chairman for a customary period of two years. He previously served as the forum’s Vice President from May 2019.
Commenting on his appointment, Jansen said: “Protecting consumers, preventing gambling addiction and combating illegality and crime is of paramount importance to all supervisors. By exchanging experiences, we learn from each other. We are largely faced with the same issues.”
Preparing KSA for the launch of the Netherlands new online gambling marketplace on October 1, Jansen has achieved several cross-regulatory cooperative agreements with European counterparts – ANJ (France), MGA (Malta) and the UK Gambling Commission.
Jansen takes leadership of GREF as European regulatory agencies have been recommended to harmonise national policies on gambling laws, standards, technicalities and consumer protections.
To date, gambling laws and standards have been restricted as a ‘national competence’, carried as the domain of individual European member state governments.
Last summer, the IMCO, the European Union’s internal market inspectorate, indicated ‘structural problems’ across Europe concerning governing loot boxes and new gaming verticals appearing on the regulatory agenda.
Jansen added: “In the Netherlands, online gambling will be legalised and regulated this year. Other countries preceded us in this; it doesn’t make sense to reinvent the wheel everywhere. We can learn from the experiences of others. It is also important to work together in tackling illegal online gambling.”
