“Play in our casino.” You will no longer see these kinds of advertisements in Tilburg bus shelters or advertising columns from 2023. The municipality finds the advertisements for gambling at companies such as Toto and Betcity undesirable because many people get into debt. The municipality cannot prohibit gambling, but it is possible to prohibit outdoor advertising.
The municipality has been working for years to prevent debts with its citizens or to resolve them through debt counseling. PvdA councilor Stefan Jansen therefore thought it was strange that he saw gambling advertisements at various local bus shelters and asked council questions about it.
The gambling advertisements cannot be refused immediately, but the new rules are contained in the new contract with the operator of the bus stop booths. The contract will be put out to public tender and will take effect in 2023.
“The online gambling market has just opened up, but the municipality is already seeing an increase in the number of people ending up in debt due to online gambling,” said Jansen.
Isn’t it unnecessary government intervention? “Gambling is a social problem, you must also provide a social solution to it. The same applies to unhealthy food, for example. If you want children to eat healthy, you may have to ban advertisements for unhealthy food near schools. have the conversation: where is the limit?”
National policy
Peter Greeven is head of treatment affairs at Novadic-Kentron. He encounters everything from students who gamble their entire monthly budget one night to people who lose 50,000 euros one night on various betting platforms.
“People often think that they can win back the lost money, which is why they are active on several gambling platforms. Less advertising for gambling leads to less addiction. It is fine what the municipality of Tilburg is doing, but national policy should be introduced.”
Previously, online gambling was illegal. People were only allowed to gamble at gambling halls and casinos that had a license for this. That threshold has disappeared. “Online you can gamble around the clock. The threshold is lower. And there is less social control, from your smartphone you can lose money without someone pulling your jacket,” says Greeven.