Dutch Lottery confirms Blok as new CEO

Blok will step into the role no later than 1 September 2024. Current CEO Niels Onkenhout’s term at the Dutch Lottery is due to end on this date.

Also co-director of Dutch Lottery, Blok has served as the organisation’s CFO since late 2016. He also had a spell in the role on an interim basis before taking up the position full-time.

Prior to this, he worked for RWE, serving in senior roles such as CFO for the RWE Retail arm. Blok also spent time with Essent, NS Reizifers and Nederlandse Staatsloterij, prior to its merger with De Lotto in 2016 to form Dutch Lottery.

Incidentally, Onkenhout oversaw this merger shortly after becoming CEO. 

“I would first like to express my sincere appreciation for the board of Nederlandse Loterij, with Niels as CEO and Blok as CFO,” Dutch Lottery chair Alexander Pechtold said. 

“Over the past seven years, they have helped develop the organisation into a healthy home for strong gaming brands, where the interests of the player always come first through a distinctive responsible gaming policy and a growing contribution back to society.”

Blok the “ideal” candidate for CEO role

Pechtold added that Blok stood out as the “ideal” candidate when discussing a successor for Onkenhout.

Pechtold said: “Under the leadership of Arjan, the organisation has been characterised by continuous positive financial results after the merger in 2016. He has also made an important contribution to accelerating the digital transformation. 

“We are confident that in the long term, with this new board of directors – supplemented by a new CFO to be recruited – we will have a strong team to take the Dutch Lottery to the next chapter.”

Dutch Lottery will now commence a search to identify and appoint a new CFO.