The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has compiled a report summarising the various interventions carried out against illegal gambling operations in the Netherlands during the first half of this year.
One of the first changes made to the KDA intervention process was the introduction of a penalty payment against operators.
The KSA noted that with the addition of a penalty behind orders to stop operations, many companies did, in fact, do so.
Towards the end of 2022, eight operators were fined following illegal gambling investigations, with a total amount of €30m ($32m) made public this spring.
Since the start of 2023, the KSA has imposed a penalty on three providers, with additional reports and penalties currently being processed for future release.
With a recent crackdown in Northern Europe against gambling advertising, it’s no surprise that the Netherlands is also investigating the issue too.
The KSA found that four of the eight most-visited gambling websites that advertise towards the Dutch market had circumvented Cruks, the self-exclusion register for gamblers.
To tackle this, Notice and Takedown measures were enacted against the offenders and the Cruks scheme was updated.
An additional 32 investigations were conducted on social media campaigns from gambling companies, many of which were reported to Meta and subsequently shut down.
Regarding the rising popularity of cryptocurrency payments, especially those used to fund deposits on illegal sites, KSA inspectors are now using Bitcoin transactions to determine whether Dutch customers can circumvent restrictions.
In doing so, six sites were found to offer illegal gambling services to players and had sanctions imposed upon them.
A total of 42 raids or municipal actions have been taken against land-based venues so far this year too.
These were conducted by police teams and would have involved cases where illegal material was seized, such as slot machines.
