DGTL recoups $2.3 million after “accidentally” buying pandemic insurance

Amsterdam’s DGTL Festival, which was due to take place over the Easter weekend but was forced to cancel due to the coronavirus outbreak, is recouping its $2.3 million investment from insurers.

Tom Veldhuis, co-founder of DGTL organisers Apenkooi Events, revealed to the New York Times that the event was lucky to be covered, after an employee “accidentally” selected pandemic coverage while filling out a form.

He said:: “When we renewed our insurance policies, one of my employees sort of accidentally ticked the ‘pandemic’ box on the insurance form. We’re getting our roughly $2.3 million investment back. Otherwise it would have been quite a blow.”

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Joris Voorn is also quoted in the NYT piece, saying: “I’m pretty sure I won’t be doing any gigs this year. No. 1: I fly around the world. No. 2: I play in front of tens of thousands of people. Unless there is a miracle, I don’t think these two things will be possible anywhere this year and perhaps not next year.”

Yesterday, April 21, Netherlands’ Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced an extension on the ban of large-scale gatherings in the country until August 31.

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Features Editor, follow him on Twitter