Holland Casino told to remove ads for land-based casinos from igaming site
The Dutch gambling regulator says Holland Casino cannot promote the locations of its land-based casinos from the site.
The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has told Holland Casino to remove all adverts for its land-based casinos from its igaming site. In October last year, the KSA found that the site had links that provided information on the location of its land-based venues.
The state-controlled operator has 14 land-based casinos across the Netherlands. It launched online gambling when the Netherlands’ regulated igaming market opened in October last year. Article 4.2, paragraph 5 of the Dutch Remote Gaming Act states that online gaming licensees cannot advertise services and goods other than those covered by its igaming licence.
Although Holland Casino has licences for its land-based casinos, these are separate from its igaming licence, which only covers its online operators. As such, it cannot promote its physical casinos via its online offering.
Although the breach dates more than a year, the KSA said it could not publish its ruling until now because Holland Casino had initially appealed against the decision. However, the regulator says that the casino operator has now accepted the ruling and has removed the links on its website in order to comply.
KSA orders Dutch gambling operators to cease cashback bonus offers
The KSA has ordered online gambling operators to cease offering cashback bonuses. It says such offers are banned under Dutch law because it is believed that they promote excessive participation. The regulator has sent a letter to all igaming licensees in the Netherlands the clarify the legal situation. It asked operators to respond in writing by December 5 to confirm they have stopped cashback bonuses.
The KSA recently announced it had fined Toto Online €400,000 for sending gambling advertising to young adults. The Netherlands forbids operators from advertising to anyone under the age of 23, but the KSA found that Toto Online had been sending emails to its entire customer base.
The breaches of the Netherlands’ rules on advertising occurred from the launch of the country’s regulated online gambling market at the start of October last year until February 1 this year. Toto Online sent out emails about its gambling offering, including its bonus offer.
