Dutch lottery announces legal action against another unlicensed gambling site
Encouraged by an earlier court ruling, Nederlandse Loterij is going after another offshore igaming brand.
The Netherlands.- The state-controlled Dutch lottery operator Nederlandse Loterij has announced more legal action as it takes matters into its own hands in a bid to curb unlicensed gambling in the Netherlands. After winning a favourable ruling in its case against Lalabet, it now has its sights on the operators of Skyhills.
The lottery operator, which also announced legal action against Novatech’s Qbet back in April, says it now believes it has a firm legal basis on which to challenge offshore operators targeting Dutch consumers. It says it has issued cease-and-desist letters to companies and individuals linked to Skyhills in multiple jurisdictions, including Curaçao, Costa Rica, Malta, North Macedonia, the UK and the Marshall Islands.
According to Nederlandse Loterij, the Skyhills website became inaccessible to Dutch users shortly after the action was taken.
Arjan Blok, chief executive of Nederlandse Loterij, said: “Skyhills uses devious advertising, including on TikTok, explicitly targeting Dutch players, especially young people. Players gamble there without safeguards and face many associated risks,” he said. “This is unacceptable. It is encouraging to see Skyhills go offline immediately after our initial action.”
The lottery has been encouraged by a court ruling in June that mainly sided with Nederlandse Loterij in its dispute with Lalabet. Judges concluded that Lalabet’s operators and directors had acted unlawfully by targeting players in the Netherlands and ordered them to halt such activity. The court also ordered the operator to disclose detailed information on its ownership and shareholders.
The case examined the possible responsibility of trust administrators and local representatives involved in supporting illegal gambling businesses. Although the court didn’t hold Curaçao-based trust company DECC or its directors liable, Nederlandse Loterij has said that it will appeal this part of the judgment. It argues that trust companies should be required to conduct more thorough checks on their clients.
The operator is also examining DECC’s involvement with Qbet and Skyhills and has indicated that additional legal steps could follow once the ownership structures of those businesses become clearer.
The latest enforcement action comes as Dutch politicians prepare to debate proposed reforms to gambling legislation. Nederlandse Loterij has backed plans to give the gambling regulator, the KSA, stronger powers to tackle illegal operators but warned that legislative changes could take years to have an impact. Blok has urged authorities to take more immediate measures, including criminal prosecutions by the Public Prosecution Service.
Meanwhile, the operator has also voiced concerns over proposals for a blanket ban on advertising by licensed online gambling companies. Nederlandse Loterij argues that such restrictions could have the unintended effect of pushing consumers towards unregulated websites. The lottery operator claims that illegal gambling accounts for around half of the Dutch online gambling market and 95 per cent of online gambling advertising. It estimates that about 200,000 people in the Netherlands already use unauthorised gambling platforms.
