KSA Tells Consumers to Expect Illegal Gambling to Be Eliminated

The Dutch Gaming Authority or Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has told consumers that illegal and offshore gambling websites that they may have been visiting will not be available anymore. This resembles a blanket ban on foreign operators, involving ISPs blacklisting websites and cutting access through other means. 

Similar moves have been undertaken in Australia and Switzerland, where local media regulators have demanded telecommunications companies cut access to several unlicensed operators. This comes at a time when the KSA has announced it would show no tolerance to third parties that continue to promote illegal gambling in the country.

As a result, more IP and payment blocks are in the pipelines, and the government is leveraging hefty penalties against everyone involved in illegal gambling. This could include fines to players participating in illegal gambling, similar to what Poland suggested last year, amid massive switch towards licensed operators, although this measure is unlikely.

For the time being, the regulator is keeping watch of 25 websites that had been given a cease-and-desist letter by the regulator, asking for their voluntary leave from the market. Many have already left since gambling became legal in the country in October 2021. 

KSA Upping Number of Measures Against Illegal Gambling 

Gambling in the Dutch market has proven a tough sell. Even though the KSA agreed to welcome 28 operators, only ten received accreditations, part of this is the country’s hard stance on companies that previously offered gambling products without a license, benefiting from the grey area status of the market. 

The KSA did introduce a “cooling off” period during which those operators dubbed “bad actors” had to make decisive steps to eliminate any marketing that targets Dutch consumers. 

Many have apparently failed, and the KSA had not agreed to grant the licenses, citing the availability of websites in Dutch along with payment methods that were clearly targeted at people who live in the Netherlands. Some operators have disagreed, but others tacitly accepted the ruling, packed up, and left. 

Without necessarily identifying the cause of those near-misses, some of the failed applicants included names such as Betsson, Entain, LeoVegas, and Kindred Group. The KSA has even brought charges against some of those companies over the years, back when regulation was still being hammered with no clear end in sight. The KSA has issued penalties to established operators since 2018. 

Today, the KSA is running a growing workforce of compliance specialists who will be expending no small amount of effort to ensure that the industry and its license holders play by the rules. The KSA has already issued a few warnings along the way, cautioning operators not to color around the lines.