Andrew Foster – Chief Business Officer, Enteractive.

The operators currently frozen out of the Dutch market will return once they have their licenses. The battle for players will be fierce when that happens and all operators should make use of the full range of CRM tools at their disposal. 

The new online betting and gaming regulations that were introduced in the Netherlands in October 2021 have led brands that were leaders in the country to leave the market, while operators that stopped all operations for a ‘standstill’ period of six months prior the new rules coming into force have been granted operating licenses and have been able to market their products since then.

The impact of the measures imposed by the Dutch authorities vary according to whether an operator is licensed or not, but some factors will be similar and felt across the board. 

First the differences 

If we start by looking at the different experiences this has created for the operators that were licensed from the first day of the market opening in October last year, there are clear factors that can be identified. 

The most obvious one is that those companies are now able to market and promote their products in a fully legal manner and with broad reach across all the main media channels; that means full access to print and online advertising, radio or TV platforms. 

This has a number of obvious advantages. They are able to recruit many players that their currently unlicensed competitors sitting on the sidelines are not able to, thus giving them an important head start in the race for market share. 

In addition, once the players have signed up with them they can be taken through the operators’ CRM policies to maximise cross-sell and lifetime values. 

Open field

The regulatory measures imposed by the Dutch authorities have given those licensed brands a crucial advantage. 

To use a sporting analogy, brands that are currently licensed such as Holland Casino or Bet365 have been given an open goal when it comes to operating without having to worry about long standing brands in the market. 

The lightly populated competitive marketplace means they can make hay while the previous leading brands are effectively shut out from the market. 

Common threads 

However, while those operators enjoy a head start over some of their key rivals, when it comes to making the most of the opportunity that the Netherlands market represents, the factors and priorities that will require their focus apply across the board. 

And because they have the market to themselves for the time being, it becomes that much more important that they make the most of it. In practice this means maximising the lifetime values of their player base by optimising their retention levels. 

How is this done? As ever, digital CRM plays an important role in enabling operators to make contact and develop an initial level of interaction with players. 

The impact on player activity levels is positive and through our work operators are able to reactivate accounts that would have simply laid dormant otherwise.

Returning competition

The Netherlands market’s ‘open season’ for companies that have been licensed there since October 2021 will not last forever. In practice it means the previous market leaders will return once they have obtained their licenses and will be intent on competing strongly for market share. 

This will lead to increased levels of competition for players and those returning operators will be able to tap into customer databases that they have built up over many years and that they will seek to reactivate.

Still, regaining market share will not be straightforward and while there is much talk of players often having two or three online gambling accounts, there is no guarantee they will reopen or reactivate accounts just because they have received a marketing email from a brand they used to have an account with. 

Not a simple task 

For an example of this, a survey of 530 US bettors carried out ahead of this year’s Super Bowl found that 78% were either “very likely” or “likely” to stick with their current account rather than switch to a competitor app. 

In other words, nearly 80% of the players used one main account for their online betting and gaming play; and re-acquiring them will not be a simple or easy task, especially if they have already been recruited by the operators active in the Netherlands since October.  

As ever, at Enteractive we encourage operators to make use of the full range of CRM tools we offer and contact us to find out more about how we can help in their efforts to optimise their CRM and reactivation programs.