Dutch gambling regulator warns operator over advertising and autoplay
The KSA has warned that operators are responsible for third party mistakes.
The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regualtor, kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued two warnings to Unibet operator Optdeck, one for untargeted advertising and the other for offering autoplay.
The advertising in question relates to the Kindred Group subsidiary’s sponsorship of the Unibet Tietema Rockets cycling team. Part of this sponsorship is a coach on which the Unibet logo can be seen and which has been used in the Netherlands to transport the sports team as well as for other purposes. The KSA said that these uses violated the Netherlands’ ban on untargeted gambling advertising, which came into force in July 2023.
The KSA also issued a warning about a form of autoplay in a game offered by Unibet. It said that the game’s BonusBuy feature, which allows players to automatically continue playing with purchased bonuses without having to start a new game, is prohibited because it encourages immoderate play.
Optdeck said it was not aware the bus was also used for other transport and said that supervising various sponsorship agreements can be complex. The cycling team has been requested to stop using the bus immediately, and the bus and team cars will be provided with custom stickers without a Unibet logo.
The KSA indicated that it is always the responsibility of the provider to guarantee that sponsorship agreements comply with the laws and regulations. However, the coach would no longer be allowed on the road at from Tuesday (July 1), which is when the Netherlands’ ban on gambling sponsorship in sports comes into force.
Meanwhile, the BonusBuy violation also involved a mistake by a third party. After the game went live, this feature was incorrectly activated by the supplier, Optdeck said. The feature was only available for two hours, and players who suffered a loss during those two hours have been compensated. In addition, measures have been taken to prevent such mistakes from being made in the future.
The KSA again emphasised that the operator itself is responsible for following laws and regulations even if there is cooperation with third parties. Because both violations were stopped immediately as soon as they were noticed, the regulator has left its intervention at a warning for now. If Optdeck makes another mistake in the future, the KSA said it may impose stricter sanctions.
