News item | 24-05-2023 | 13:57
The government has evaluated the shareholding of the state participations Holland Casino and Nederlandse Loterij. As a result of this, the government will further explore various future options for the Dutch Lottery in the near future. A decision on whether to start an exploration into the future of Holland Casino will follow at a later date.
The evaluation of the two state participations examined, among other things, whether a participation is still the right instrument to contribute to the safeguarding of the relevant public interests and whether the management of the shares by the State has had the desired added value. .
Outcome evaluations
The evaluations have shown that for both state participations, legislation and regulations offer possibilities for safeguarding public interests. These public interests are the protection of consumers, the prevention of gambling addiction and the prevention of gambling-related crime and fraud. It is also concluded that the shareholding of the State has a certain added value, because it uses its influence to safeguard the public interests. In addition, the evaluation also examined whether the potential divestment of the company is lawful, proportionate and feasible. The evaluations can only partially answer this question, because further analyzes are required to answer these questions. It is therefore advised that further exploration is necessary.
An exploration is therefore looking at the impact of various future options. Once these insights are available, it will be possible to make a full assessment of the desirability of a possible privatization or of maintaining the current situation.
Exploration Dutch Lottery
The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice and Security have started exploring future options for the Dutch Lottery. In addition to full or partial privatization of the Dutch Lottery, retaining the shareholding by the State is one of the options for the future within the exploration. The safeguarding of public interests and the legal tenability of future options are important preconditions in this respect. The aim is to complete the exploration before the end of this year. The results are then discussed with the House of Representatives, after which the next steps are determined.
Follow-up
The cabinet will take a decision at a later date about starting an exploration into the future of Holland Casino. The government wants to include the insights gained in the process for the Dutch Lottery when deciding whether to explore future options for Holland Casino. Moreover, these are complex and extensive processes that the cabinet does not want to carry out at the same time. Because Holland Casino is currently still recovering organizationally and financially from the impact of COVID-19, the government also thinks it is wise for Holland Casino to focus first on its own (financial) recovery in the coming period. Finally, the cabinet wants to wait with a decision on further exploration at Holland Casino until the results of the evaluation of the Remote Gambling Act are known. This evaluation will be carried out in 2024.