Kansspelautoriteit (KSA)’s bare knuckled enforcement against unlicensed gaming in the Netherlands has been effective, said René Jansen, chairman of the Netherlands Gambling Authority.
Writing on the KSA’s blog, Jensen doubled down on the ban on untargeted gambling advertisements that was adopted by the government, and which will take effect July 1. He argued that it is needed to contrast between legal and illegal gaming operators.
He declared, “It must pay off for providers of games of chance to offer their games legally. That is only possible if we punish illegal supply harshly.”
The Dutch online gaming market opened in October 2021. During that period the KSA has operated a tiered fine system based on the size of the company. Jansen says this program has worked well and forced illegal providers to cease operating after fines of €28 million were levied on seven operators in 2022.
Jansen added, “In addition, we want it to continue to pay off for licensed providers to incur costs for applying for and maintaining their license. Naturally, we remain keen to ensure that license holders actually live up to this ‘playing it safe’ approach in practice.”
