About this app
About Totem Guardians
Instead, the report recommended that advertising regulation be placed on a statutory footing under the Gambling Commission.
This would grant the regulator enhanced powers to proactively enforce rules and restrict problematic advertising channels effectively.
Gambling ads are currently monitored by ASA under the CAP 16.1 code. Just this week, Midnite received its third ASA ruling. The operator was told to remove a TikTok advertisement that featured a young-looking character.
What is Totem Guardians?
Candidates from the VVD party urged the government to take a “harder stance” against these big tech platforms.
Some politicians stated their opinion that the legal gambling age in the Netherlands should be increased to 21 from the current barrier of 18 years old.
This isn’t the first time this policy has been mooted in the Dutch parliament. A 2025 bill proposed raising the age for “higher-risk” activities like online slots.
About Totem Guardians
This requirement raised concerns among operators worried that the barriers to entry could have become more restrictive, But at a meeting on the policies last year the regulator assured licensees it was not enforcing a specific strict rule on this.
Speaking to iGB at the time, Bjorn Fuchs, chairman of VNLOK Fuchs noted “there was a sigh of relief going through the room when it was presented”.
Rather than a crackdown across the board, what emerged was a more regulated renewal framework.