Michel Groothuizen will start as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Gaming Authority on July 1, 2024. He succeeds René Jansen.

The Gaming Authority (Ksa) is the independent regulator of the gambling market. Playing safely is what the Ksa stands for. She is committed to protecting consumers, preventing gambling addiction and combating illegality and crime.

The Ksa is an independent administrative body of the Ministry of Justice and Security and implements Dutch gambling policy on behalf of the Minister of Legal Protection.

Ric de Rooij, Deputy Secretary General JenV: “With Michel, the Ksa will have a new manager with very broad administrative experience and knowledge of the subject in question. This is also necessary because developments surrounding gambling do not stand still and will continue to require attention. I look forward to working with Michel.”

Michel Groothuizen: “Old love never dies. From 2007 onwards, as policy director, I was responsible, among other things, for the gambling dossier. One of my tasks was to establish the Gaming Authority. We succeeded in 2012. We had already been working on new legislation for a few years to manage online gambling offerings. It took almost 10 years before the law that was supposed to regulate this actually came into effect. I was long gone by then. But I think it is a wonderful challenge at this time to ensure safe gambling in a socially responsible manner and to combat negative consequences, such as gambling addiction.”

Michel Groothuizen has been a member of the main board of the Judicial Institutions Service as deputy director general for more than four years now. He previously served as general director of the Netherlands Institute for Forensic Psychiatry, and before that as policy director and director of FEZ in the administrative department of JenV. He has also been a deputy judge at the Arnhem Court of Appeal for 15 years. Michel is a lawyer and public administration expert. At the department, he was responsible, among other things, for the establishment of the Gaming Authority in 2012, the field to which he is now returning.

This is not an appointment to an ABD position, but it has been established using a procedure comparable to that for positions within the General Administrative Service. DGABD carried out the recruitment for this appointment and supported the Ksa and the Ministry of Defense and Security in the selection. As usual, the vacancy was widely advertised so that everyone could apply.