KSA raps Betent and PlayNorth over AML breaches

The Dutch gambling regulator says the operators breached rules under the Netherlands’ Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prevention Act.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued notifications relating to breaches of the Netherlands’ Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prevention Act for the first time. It found that Betent and PlayNorth Limited had taken insufficient steps to meet their obligations.

The KSA began an investigation into the operators in May last year, requesting that they each provide 15 examples of customer investigations. It initially found that the examples submitted lacked date information, making the operators’ decisions on risk analysis unclear. It also told Betent that it should not have retained customer ID numbers (BSN) in the data provided and that it must destroy the numbers retained.

After the requested information was obtained in the correct form, it found that over half of the examples submitted included insufficient investigation. Betent was found not to have investigated the source of funds of players that experienced high losses, including a loss of €110,000 in one month.

As for PlayNorth, the KSA found that 11 of the 14 customer investigations it submitted were insufficient. It cited a loss of €135,000 in two months with no source of funds investigation. The KSA said this put the operators in breach of article three, paragraph two, section (d) of the Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prevention Act.

Both operators appealed against the verdict, but the KSA board upheld the finding that the operators were unable to continuously monitor for AML risks.

KSA takes player protection recommendations to Dutch Ministry of Justice

This week the KSA announced that it intends to make recommendations for legislative and regulatory amendments on player protection to the Dutch Ministry of Justice. The move comes after the KSA completed an investigation into operator duty of care practices in which it found current safeguards to be lacking to adequately protect bettors. It concluded that operators could intervene “more quickly and effectively” in some cases of excessive gambling.

Meanwhile, the regulator has announced the launch of a probe into prohibited cashback bonuses. It has contacted all licensees to warn them to stop offering the promotions.