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Dutch Gambling Authorities Ban Share Your Bet Features
The Dutch gambling regulator called on licensed bookmakers to cancel all share a bet features with immediate effect on February 4, or face enforcement. The KSA is one of the strictest gambling authorities in Europe, and rolled out strict licensing requirements back at the beginning of January, which are to come into law from October. They have laws on advertising to under 24 year olds, strict deposit limits and affordability checks, and even bans on features like Autoplay in slots, which are considered harmful.
Share a Bet falls into that very category, according to the KSA, as it encourages people to bet. Perhaps more alarmingly, some of the betting sites integrate social media and messaging apps into their Share A Bet features, so you can send bets to your friends via WhatsApp or on your Facebook feed. The KSA considers this a hidden advertisement that falls under the radar and can potentially reach minors, or underage adults who can actually sign up to sportsbooks and place bets, but are not allowed to be targeted by gambling ads. And the Dutch gambling authorities are not the only ones who have taken against these social betting features either.
Dutch Ban on Share A Bet
De Kansspelautoriteit, or the KSA, issued the warning on February 4, that Share Your Bet, or Share A Bet, must be halted. The Dutch gambling authority investigated the feature after receiving questions about its legality, and it has now determined that all licensed sportsbooks in the Netherlands have to stop with immediate effect. The official statement by the KSA ended by saying that the authority will continue to monitor betting activities in this area, and it will take enforcement action where necessary. While there was no mention of fines or penalties, the Dutch gambling scene is pretty stringent, and bettors shouldn’t be surprised if these bets are pulled from licensed books, if they haven’t been already.
Share Your Bet is seen as a form of sports betting advertising, or even recruitment, in the eyes of the KSA, and they have reasoned that it can indirectly make users share messages to vulnerable groups or younger audiences. Gambling can be promoted through social betting circles, and the Share Your Bet can even – if not deliberately – induce peer pressure to gamble. But moreover, the KSA is concerned about the gambling messages reaching minors, young adults, and anyone who is either vulnerable to gambling or has known problematic gambling habits.
Therefore, it deemed that the Share Your Bet functions were in direct breach of the Decree on Recruitment, Advertising and Addiction Prevention in Gambling.
Defining Share Your Bet
The idea of share your bet is that you create a custom wager, and then send it to your friends. You can compare bet slips, tail each other’s bets, and analyze or discuss betting picks. It is commonly associated with parlay bets, round robins, teasers, and other types of multiples. You create your custom bet – for example with a moneyline, a totals, and a niche props – like Liverpool Moneyline, Over 3.5 Goals and Under 9.5 Corners. You can then bounce this bet off your friends, so they can copy it or send back their own custom slip. It broadens the social experience.
What could be defined as friendly banter between a handful of friends can also be interpreted as a tool that adds:
- Gambling Exposure
- Normalization of Risk Taking
- Encouraging Risk Taking
- Downplaying the Risks
The list goes on, but you get the point. The act of sharing and comparing bets can add competition between friends, but also peer pressure for people to get involved. If one peer develops a problem, the concern is that it can spread to their friends. In social groups, the risks and dangers of gambling may also be downplayed – you would much rather talk about epic wins and how much you won than talk about your losses and how much you have spent. The element of control in sports betting induces more psychological triggers than a casino game like roulette. The bets are seemingly in your control, as you can decide what is a good bet and what is not, and when the betting odds are worth going for.
Messaging Apps and Social Media Platforms Used
Another problem is that the Share Your Bet functions used at these licensed Dutch sportsbooks did not send messages through the platforms themselves. Instead, they allowed you to share your bet via popular messaging apps and social media platforms. These included the likes of
- X (Twitter)
- Telegram
If that bet gets shared on your feed, it is no longer just a piece of friendly banter between you and your friend. Instead, it becomes a flagpole for everyone who follows your feed to see your wager. Depending on who sees it, reactions can range from a simple shrug to a bona fide call to action – in people who get psychologically triggered by seeing the bet. The KSA argued that the bet functions must be pulled because operators cannot guarantee that the content will not be viewed by minors or vulnerable parties.
Dutch Age Laws on Gambling Ads
In the Netherlands, it is illegal for gambling firms to target anyone aged under 24. If you are between 18 and 24, you can sign up at an online casino or sportsbook, but the platforms are still not allowed to target you with their marketing. There are also strict limits on where the ads can be displayed, as well as restraints on the gambling marketing tone, timing and placement of the ads.
The demand comes amid further crackdowns by the KSA. They introduced strict affordability requirements, banned autoplay in slot machines (just like in neighbouring Germany), and online gambling firms have to adhere to stricter licensing requirements. The KSA had a pretty contentious issue a few months ago, when they opened retroactive cases for players who lost money at unregulated gambling sites. The courts had to deliberate on whether the people had the right to compensation for any funds they lost to these sites.
Controversial indeed, and not all courts agreed that players should get compensation, but some local ones sided with players and demanded that casinos reimburse the gamers. Why is it important? It just shows how dedicated the Dutch gambling authority is to creating a safer environment, without alienating players with strict legislation. While Share Your Bet may be a quirky feature that some bettors enjoy, it is not fully practical, and quite difficult to regulate if left to be.
Similar Social Betting Features
Share A Bet functionalities are quite common among US sportsbooks and alternative betting platforms. With alternative betting apps, especially the DFS, and peer to peer betting exchanges, user engagement is not just encouraged, but it is key to the way a lot of the betting products work. Among DFS, and platforms with Pick’Em games – these pit you against your peers, many will have prize pools built on the liquidity supplied by the peers. With peer to peer betting, your liquidity is a must, otherwise the bets cannot work. It is quite common to have Shared Bets, Challenge functions, Head to Head betting, and other social functions.
Going back to conventional sports betting, the big problem with Share Your Bet was that it could access media channels outside the sportsbook’s platform. So not like a designated chat room or Discord channel, but on social media platforms with feeds and greater publicity. The UK, which is continuously upping its battle against illegal bookies and risky gambling products, was quick to shut down an illegal bookie syndicate on WhatsApp, but when combating illegal gambling or illegal gambling ads – it is a lot more difficult to trace on social media platforms.
They had an issue with a similar type of social media gambling ads when UK sportsbooks offered Request A Bet features. These thrived on media channels, the idea was that you create a custom props bet, like Harry Kane to Score a Penalty in the next game, and then the bookie would calculate the odds, and give you a price quote. Instead of doing this behind closed doors, though, they did it on platforms like X (Twitter). A lot of bookies got in on this trend, but as the ad laws tightened, they slowly withdrew these offers.
Dangers of Gambling on Social Media
In the digital age where messages and ads can spread like wildfire on media platforms, it is exceedingly difficult for authorities to control gambling exposure. Bets that become shareable, clickable content are hugely threatening. They are given the daylight on widely accessible platforms, where they can look like recommendations, endorsements, and even create peer pressure in group chats and social feeds.
Operators cannot control who has access to the shared bets or requested bets, and so the logical step for authorities is to block these products entirely. Keeping betting away from social media, and cutting out the possibility that bettors and customers inadvertently become part of the sportsbook’s PR campaign.
