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What is Shark Wash?
In his 2022 letter to shareholders, he criticized mobile trading apps that make day trading and speculative positioning effortless, accusing them of turning the stock market into a “gambling parlor.”
Two years later, Buffett again targeted the “gamblification” of financial markets in his annual shareholder letter.
“Markets now exhibit far more casino-like behavior than they did when I was young. The casino now resides in many homes and daily tempts the occupants,” Buffett wrote, noting that extreme volatility makes identifying sound, long-term investments vastly more difficult.
About Shark Wash
Petra’s experience in aviation and education taught her that people are important – losing the human interaction on the casino floor would be a bad idea. Sure, not all customers want to talk, but the success of the Next Zone points to players seeing Holland Casino as a sociable, lively experience rather than a solitary one.
The Netherlands has been the subject of much industry conversation, particularly the online side of the business. Petra emphasises the importance of a ‘healthy legal gambling market’ to help the sector thrive. “We see taxes going up, we see regulations going up. You see your guests changing what they want. We have to make sure that we have a good legal offer because if we don’t have that, we also know that people will find their way to illegal means.”
Holland Casino celebrates 50 years this year since the Dutch government founded it. Petra says it was very important at the time to provide that activity to local people. “So they decided to found Holland Casino. At that time, they also thought it might be interesting for tourists. That aspect is really gone, we’re really focused on the local market now. But 50 years later, it’s still very relevant to have a good, healthy legal industry.”
About Shark Wash
The partnership also plans to analyse operational data, develop pilot programmes and construct a model for national deployment.
A systemic policy cooperation mechanism is expected, targeting youth gambling prevention and student safeguarding. Rather than implementing short-term campaigns, the focus will be on embedding gambling prevention into everyday school routines.
It will include combining restrictions on smartphone use with engaging RAS activities to effectively block and fill the time students might otherwise spend being exposed to gambling content.
