KSA fines two operators for offering unlicensed gambling in the Netherlands
The Dutch gambling regulator has issued fines against MKC Limited and GoldWin.
The Netherlands.- Two operators have been issued fines for offering unlicensed gambling in the Netherlands. The Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has issued a €6.7m fine against GoldWin and a €900,000 sanction against MKC Limited.
In the case of GoldWin, the KSA said that Dutch players were able to access and gamble on the Malta-based operator’s Westcasino.com. It said it began investigating the site on December 22, 2022. It created an account and placed bets on the site, finding that there were no measures in place to block Dutch players.
The regulator said data on traffic suggested that Westcasino.com had been visited 843,132 times from the Netherlands in 2022. It announced its intention to issue a fine on January 23, but when it inspected the site again on March 2, it found that the site was still available to players in the Netherlands unless the word “employee” appeared in the player’s name or email address.
It issued an order to cease offering games in the Netherlands on April 20, ruling that the operator had breached Article 1, paragraph 1 of the Dutch Betting and Gaming Act (WOK). It said the penalty imposed represents 7 per cent of the KSA’s estimation of the operator’s annual revenue from the Netherlands, which it calculates from the assumption that each visit to an unlicensed remote gambling site generates €230.2 in turnover.
Fine against MKC
As for MKC, the KSA says its Betworld247 site was accessible in the country, and players could create accounts using Dutch addresses. Again, it detected no measures to prevent Dutch players from gambling. It said MKC also failed to carry out age verification.
The regulator began an investigation in May 2022 and issued a cease-and-desist letter in August 2022. It said that from June 2021 to May 2022, the site received 376,595 unique visits from the Netherlands.
KSA chairman René Jansen said: “Players could enter an age themselves without clear identification. This means that the website is accessible to very vulnerable, underage players. This is a seriously culpable offence, which we have also included as an increasing factor for the fine.
“It shows once again that in many cases little attention seems to be paid to the safety of players on the illegal market.”
The Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) cancelled MKC’s Maltese licence in July of this year for breaches of several regulations, including a failure to make its licence payments.
Meanwhile, the KSA has announced that René Jansen will not serve another term as the regulator’s chairman. Jansen reaches retirement age at the end of the year and will not stand for reelection to continue after his current six-year term ends on October 1, 2024. A proposed resignation date has been set for July 1, 2024.
Earlier this month, the KSA reported that the growth of the Netherlands‘ regulated online gambling market appears to be levelling off. The number of active licences to operate on the market has grown from an initial 10 upon opening to 27, following the launch of LeoVegas.
