Michel Groothuizen Elected as General Board Member of GREF

Michel Groothuizen Elected to GREF Board

Michel Groothuizen, chairman of the Dutch Gaming Authority (Kansspelautoriteit), has been unanimously elected as a general board member of the Gambling Regulators European Forum (GREF). He will serve on the board of the European cooperation organization for gambling regulators until 2027.

The annual GREF conference is taking place this week in Athens, Greece. Last year’s conference was held in Malta.

GREF is a collaboration of various gambling market regulators from different European countries. During the event, regulators discuss the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in the gambling sector.

Members of the Gambling Regulators European Forum also voted to appoint members to the board of the collaboration.

Unanimous Election

It has been confirmed that Michel Groothuizen, chairman of the Kansspelautoriteit, has been unanimously elected as a general board member of GREF. The Kansspelautoriteit announced via LinkedIn that Groothuizen’s election was unanimous.

As a result of his election, Groothuizen will join the board of the European cooperation organization until 2027. Regulators from Belgium and Denmark were also elected as board members, according to the LinkedIn post.

Michel Groothuizen also shared the news of his election on LinkedIn. Groothuizen expressed his pleasure at being elected as a general board member of GREF. He promises to work towards regulating the protection of minors at the European level:

“A great opportunity to continue working towards a safe and fair market. But I will mainly try to achieve widely supported minimum standards that lay a foundation in the market everywhere in Europe. For example, no gambling for under 18s anywhere, and also a Europe-wide ban on approaching minors at all.”

Groothuizen’s predecessor at the Kansspelautoriteit, René Jansen, was also previously active in GREF. Jansen was chairman of the Gambling Regulators European Forum until June 2023.