Illegal gambling in the Netherlands: KSA warns Alimaniere Sociedad de Responsabilidad

The KSA said the operator was offering gambling in the Netherlands without a licence.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling operator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued another warning over unlicensed gambling in the country. It said Alimaniere Sociedad de Responsabilidad was allowing Dutch customers to gamble through several unlicensed domains.

The KSA initially concentrated its investigation on the website time2spin.com. While this site was taken down, it found that a new domain, time2spin1.com, soon appeared in its place. The regulator warned that the operator would face a fine of €140,000, possibly rising to up to €420,000, if it does not cease to allow the site to be accessed in the Netherlands.

Last week, the KSA announced that it had issued warnings to three licensed gambling operators for breaches of advertising rules. It said the operators had sponsored sports events and related clothing which were visible to minors.

Sponsoring television programmes and events has been banned since July of this year, and there are strict rules intended to prevent sports sponsorship from being visible among vulnerable groups. A complete ban on sponsoring sports venues and clubs is due to come into force from July 1 2025.

Meanwhile, the Dutch government’s review of the country’s Remote Gambling Act has concluded that responsible gambling measures are insufficient. It said that the current regulations had failed to create a safe and sustainable market and that players were not being sufficiently protected from harm.

The three-year review was mandated as part of the Remote Gambling Act, which paved the way for the launch of regulated online gambling in the Netherlands in October 2021. The review notes that several measures have been taken since the launch of the market, including the introduction of a ban on untargeted gambling advertising from July 1 2023, but it said that these measures had been introduced too late.