FEC Netherland Voluntarily Remove Games of Chance from Family Arcades

It goes without saying that the Dutch Gaming Authority (Ksa) puts a premium on Safe Gambling and protecting the populace from gambling harms. The closer the country gets to launching its new Remote Gaming Act the more we are seeing how this desire for safe gambling is supported by local business and how nuanced it can be.

A prime example of a potentially risky gambling sector that may have slipped under the radar had FEC Netherlands (the branch association Family Entertainment Centers Netherlands) not reached out to the Ksa was games of chance in amusement centres and fairgrounds.

  Who Are FEC Netherlands?

A young yet burgeoning entertainment sector in the Netherlands is the family entertainment segment. This niche industry includes companies like Family Entertainment Centers Netherlands who provide skill and agility games for use in arcades, fairgrounds and other family venues.

A good example of these games would be the mini basketball machines or even an air hockey table. Here you play either against a clock or a friend and if there are any prizes, they usually take the form of tickets which can be traded in for a low-cost toy or some other paraphernalia.

The sector has its own limitations of value exchange which limits any prize to be worth no more than 40x the cost of playing the game.

FEC and Ksa See Eye to Eye

FEC Netherlands currently represent 70% of all Dutch arcades and gaming halls. As a show for solidarity for the Ksa’s vision for a safe gambling market they have pre-emptively informed their partner locations that games of chance are no longer welcome in FEC venues.

The reason for this aggressive stance is that under the current regulation, signed into force in 1964, fairgrounds and arcades were not seen as locations where one would specifically go to gamble – they were family venues after all.

Also, early versions of such venues were transient and weren’t thought to allow for the development of addictive behaviours given the short amount of time they would be present in one location.

However, as these venues became permanent fixtures the laws which allowed them to operate without the need for a permit nor any form of inspection has resulted in them becoming a very real danger in the fight against gambling addiction.

 Help Us To Help You

Regardless of whether or not the Ksa decided to take action in the short term the leadership of FEC Netherlands are committed to a safer gaming environment where Dutch families can play fair games for entertainment no profit.

Their corporate website contains the following on Responsible Gaming:

“Family Entertainment Centers with arcade games provide challenging learning, relaxation and fun. It should stay that way. Visitors only use legally approved games and arcade games that meet the strict legislation and standards for, among other things, skill machines.”

They even go so far as to provide their staff with proper training with which to address concerning patterns of behaviour:

“Professional employees are trained to address players with integrity and expertise about their gaming behaviour. We take our duty of care seriously and encourage responsible entrepreneurship with our own entrepreneurial code.”

Considering that FEC Netherlands is not a gambling operation their stance and approach to managing gaming as entertainment, even more so is the immediacy of the action they’ve taken to remove unmonitored and unlicensed gambling from their venues.