KSA warns “no more excuses for some things” after €3m fine against BetCity

The Dutch gambling regulator has fined the Entain-owned operator for breaches of anti-money laundering and terrorist financing rules.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit has fined BetEnt €3m for anti-money laundering and terrorist financing failings. The operator, which offers online gaming and sports betting and gambling in Holland under the BetCity brand, now belongs to London-listed Entain.

The KSA says it first KSA flagged breaches in September 2022 after finding that BetCity had failed to investigate the source of funds of players who incurred high losses. This included a player who lost €110,000 in one month. The regulator suggested that BetCity was unable to continuously monitor customer behaviour.

Despite ordering BetCity to address the matter, KSA found that BetCity had not met requirements in a large proportion of customer surveys conducted between December 2022 and May 2023. The regulator identified cases of investigations commencing late after large amounts of money had already been lost. It also found the operator was not stringent enough in requesting sources of income and sometimes failed to report unusual transactions. 

KSA chairman René Jansen said: “In May last year, the KSA issued a broad warning to licensed providers that they had to quickly get Wwft matters in order. We indicated that if research shows that providers are underperforming in the field, sanctions will be imposed. We’re now following up on this. We are really out of the start-up phase of the market and that also means that there are no more excuses for some things.”

Entain noted that the issue stemmed from before its acquisition of BetCity in January of this year but that it had been aware of the order issued by the KSA in September 2022 when the deal completed. It said that following completion it had “commenced implementing improvements to BetCity’s procedures and control frameworks”.

Last month, the KSA announced that 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. Jansen’s tenure as chair of the KSA saw the launch of the Netherlands’ regulated online gambling market in October 2021. Jansen has also served as chair and vice-chair of the Gambling Regulators European Forum during his tenure.