The very name Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) is enough to strike fear into the heart of the ordinary gambling executive. When they come wielding massive fines, the fear only increases, and this week was a scary one for some Cyprus and Curacao operators.
The KSA issued a number of major fines this week, with CyberRock Entertainment and Honeydew each facing penalties of €350,000 for offering online gambling to players in the Netherlands.
The KSA has repeatedly encouraged international operators to use “geo-blocking” technology to prevent Dutch players from logging in or registering for play. In these cases, the KSA says, the two firms were offering games via two websites which serve an almost exclusively Dutch audience, play2wincasino.com and supremeplay.com.
It’s notable that the KSA has penalized and fined operators, like CyberRock, that are based in Curacao, a Caribbean island and originally a Dutch colony. Many of these fines remain unpaid, however, a testament to the challenges of regulating the impact of an international market on a single nation’s population.
The Chairman of the KSA’s Board of Directors issued a statement after the fines were levied, saying that many people in the Netherlands still did not realize that online gambling is illegal there and that these sites are unregulated. He further mentioned the risk of fraud and exploitation, saying that the use of such sites makes it impossible for the KSA to take a role in protecting vulnerable players.
The KSA has complained in the past of delays for the passage of a bill that would re-regulate Remote Gambling in the Netherlands. That bill remains pending for, perhaps, 2020, according to latest estimates from the State Secretary.
Until then, expect more fines to be issued and payments to be made. Or missed.
