Court in the Netherlands rules in favour of KSA

The highest administrative court in the Netherlands has ruled in favour of the gambling regulator KSA.

Netherlands.- The Council of State, Netherlands’ highest administrative court, has ruled in favour of the gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) in a case about appealing texts for online games of chance.

The highest court agreed with the KSA that promotional text is equivalent to advertising, meaning that the publication of such thing falls under the promotion of games of chance. This is prohibited by law if the company doesn’t have a licence in the Netherlands.

The KSA had previously imposed an order for incremental penalty payments on Content Publishing Limited in Malta. This company published promotional texts for online gambling on various websites. From the Content Publishing websites it was possible to click through to the sites where the online games of chance could actually be played. With the penalty payment, the KSA wanted to ensure that Content Publishing would stop this activity; insufficient response was given to earlier warnings from the KSA.

Dutch authority adds age verification criteria

Age verification is now a must for online gambling operators in the Netherlands. With effect from January 1, 2020, the gambling regulator from the Netherlands said that this is a priority in the approach to online gambling.

KSA said that providers of online gambling that don’t visibly verify the age of participants before the registration process is completed, will be dealt with as a priority with the regulator and risk a fine.

“The range of illegal online games of chance is huge. KSA makes choices in combating this, with the protection of Dutch consumers as the guiding principle. The criteria of age verification is now added to the criteria that the KSA uses for this. Preventing minors from taking part in gambling is an important priority of the KSA,” said the regulator.