Dutch gaming regulator to strengthen its measures

The Dutch gambling authority announced the decision to strengthen its level of enforcement.

Netherlands.- KSA, the Dutch Gambling Authority, published the 2016 annual report, where it was detailed information about the industry in the past and they talked about the future of it. The KSA said that it’s necessary that they increase the level of enforcement in the country.

On the annual report it was also revealed that KSA is set to fight against illegal online operators. Last year, the regulatory body announced a series of measures meant to fight unauthorised online gambling operators in the Netherlands: the authority is now seeking non-licensed online gaming providers to install a mechanism that would block consumers from the Netherlands to enter their websites. Moreover, they announced that from January of this year any site working besides the new regulations would be directly eligible for enforcement action, with severe consequences if they violate the measures set in place.

The report specifies that from now on, they won’t issue a warning before taking enforcement measures. Fines can be as high as US$875,000 for the most serious crimes, or 10 percent of sales to Dutch punters. The KSA said that even though they set multiple goals and efforts, it’s difficult to collect the fines imposed because there are times where the offenders don’t have enough money to pay their debts.

As reported by Lexology, it is expected that the regulator would set more barriers against third party companies that provide illegal operators. Furthermore, they will be in charge of granting land-based casino licenses, as well as the supervision of the new regime that was approved on January and will be taking effect sometime this year.