The Dutch gambling regulator has published guidance asking editors to reconsider how they describe people affected by gambling and which images accompany their stories. The Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) launched the newsroom guide on 27 October, arguing that media coverage can influence public perceptions and make it harder for people experiencing harm to seek help.
The launch announcement singles out language and a notice directing readers towards help. Ksa says it hopes such notices will become common in gambling coverage. That is an ambition, not a reported change in newsroom practice.
Its six-page Dutch guide sets out eight recommendations for journalists and editors. It addresses reporting choices rather than announcing new conditions for gambling operators' licences.
The picture is part of the recommendation
The guide advises against giving exceptional lottery prizes disproportionate attention. Ksa's concern is that those stories can leave an impression that large wins are frequent. It also asks journalists explaining harm to consider the industry and its products, rather than placing the explanation entirely on an individual's behaviour.
Picture selection receives its own recommendation. The guide discourages slot-machine images and flashing screens, suggesting neutral portraits or a detail of a smartphone without a gambling setting. It also advises against naming a particular gambling site, product or business in that context.
Those are recommendations in a Dutch reporting handbook. They are separate from the question of whether a commercial post counts as an advertisement, examined in our report on UK ASA gambling-content cases.
People before labels
Ksa recommends describing the person and their experience instead of reducing them to a gambling label. For interviews, the guide asks reporters to check how someone wishes to be described. It favours language about recovery and social support over portrayals of helplessness.
The handbook also challenges terminology that presents gambling as safe or assigns responsibility only to the individual. These are English summaries of its Dutch wording recommendations, not an official English glossary.
For coverage of personal experiences or lottery wins in particular, it recommends information about where readers can find help. The guide points Dutch readers to OpenOverGokken and suggests placing a notice in a box or at the end of an article, or reading it aloud in audio and video coverage.
Ksa presents the guide as a way to reduce stigma and lower barriers to seeking help. The launch does not report adoption rates or measured effects. Its immediate output is an editorial checklist covering the words, framing and images that a newsroom chooses before publication.
