Gambling in the Netherlands: BlokDance warned to cease offering

The Dutch gambling regulator has warned the operator that it could be fined up to €840,000.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has warned BlokDance to cease offering online gambling to Dutch players or face fines of up to €840,000. The regulator said the operator had been offering gambling products without a local licence via the websites bc.game and bcgame.lu.

The KSA said BlokDance had initially started to block Dutch players after it was first contacted, but it later found that it was still possible to access the websites from the country. The regulator found that there were no technical measures in place to prevent Dutch players from opening an account, making a deposit and playing games

It said that it will now proceed to issue fines of €280,000 penalty per week for every week that the operator continues not to block Dutch players, up to a maximum of €840,000.

The regulator said simply: “The Netherlands has a regulated gambling market to better protect players. We therefore take tough action against illegal offerings. With a penalty payment order, illegal offerings are often quickly stopped.”

However, licensed gambling operators in the Netherlands are concerned that the KSA’s enforcement efforts are not effective enough. The Dutch online gambling trade associations NOGA and VNLOK have urged the KSA to step up its monitoring of the black market after the publication of its latest report. They suggest that there has been an increase in consumer spending on the unlicensed market.

While the KSA’s Autumn Report on the Dutch gambling market shows that channelisation remains well above the government’s 80 per cent target, reaching an estimated 95 per cent, the industry groups think the figure may be lower. The trade bodies say that, based on player spending and revenue figures, the channelisation rate is more likely to be around 87 per cent.

The groups also warned that recent research has shown that minors are accessing gambling via illegal providers and that such groups are “in danger of disappearing from statistics when they deserve extra protection”.