Dutch regulator orders hosting provider to cease services to illegal gambling affiliates

The KSA has gained a court order against DigitalOcean.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has ordered the hosting provider DigitalOcean to stop offering services to illegal gambling affiliate sites. It issued the binding order in the wake of an investigation last year.

The KSA’s probe focused on Casinozonderregistration.net and Nieuwe-casinos.net. The regulator was unable to locate or contact the owners of the affiliate sites, but it identified DigitalOcean as the hosting provider. It says that Article 1, paragraph 1(b) of the Dutch Gambling Act, which prohibits the promotion of unlicensed gambling, applies to the provider as well as the sites themselves.

DigitalOcean had been contacted by the KSA before, but it said it would not stop its service provision to the sites in question unless subject to a court order. The District Court of Rotterdam authorised KSA to proceed in January and the regulator has now issued a binding cease and desist order. Failure to comply could lead to a financial penalty, although DigitalOcean may appeal against the decision.

The move comes after KSA started working with Cloudflare to identify sites offering and promoting illegal gambling in the Netherlands. Meanwhile, in its latest monitoring report on the Dutch gambling market, the KSA has reported that the number of active accounts on the regulated market surpassed 1 million for the first time.