Netherlands Gambling Authority Fines Two Operators
The Netherlands’ regulator, KSA, has fined online gaming operators Equinox Dynamic and Domiseda & Partners €1.8 million for violating regulations. The companies were jointly fined for their involvement in the illegal Orient Xpress Casino site operation.
The Netherlands Gambling Authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has fined two online gaming operators, Equinox Dynamic and Domiseda and Partners, a total of €1.8 million (£1.58 million). Equinox Dynamic, based in Curaçao, and Domiseda and Partners, based in Slovakia, were each fined €900,000 for their involvement in the operation of the illegal Orient Xpress Casino site. The regulator found that the companies had cooperated in committing the violations and jointly committed the infractions.
After an investigation by the regulator, KSArevealed several violations of Dutch legislation committed by the pair, including the fact that the Orient Xpress Casino site was accessible from a Dutch IP address, which is prohibited in Netherlands law.
The pair also broke other rules, mainly offering live customer support in Dutch and accepting deposits in euros.
This latest fine comes days after the KSA issued a €350,000 fine to Bingoal for failing to allow Dutch players to self-exclude from its site for three days in June 2022.
Investigators found that the Belgium-based firm operated without access to the Dutch self-exclusion register Cruks (Central Register of Exclusions for Games of Chance) after its PKI (PKIoverheid) certificate expired. The Cruks register was launched in October 2021 and announced that over 20,000 players had signed up for the self-exclusion register by August 2022.
These actions may be part of the seven fines the KSA announced it had issued at the end of 2022, totalling more than €25 million against unlicensed operators for illegally offering online gambling in the country. In addition, the regulator has shown its commitment to providing a safe environment for online gambling and will not hesitate to impose severe penalties on those who do not comply with its regulations.
UKGC CEO Rhodes Gives Clarity on Operator Requirements
Closser to home, the CEO of the UK Gambling Commission, Andrew Rhodes, has given a speech at the ICE World Regulatory Briefing to clarify the regulator’s expectations for operators regarding customer protection and risk management.
Rhodes dismissed the Commission’s role in implementing so-called “affordability checks” and stated that the regulator has made it clear what it expects from operators, which is for them to consider a range of factors when assessing the risk for a consumer, including their financial situation.
However, he also claimed that it is up to operators to set limits based on their customer types, business and risks and to take responsibility for preventing harmful outcomes.
Some industry experts have described the practice of not delivering concrete guidance as “hopelessly ambiguous”. However, Rhodes has defended the regulator and reminded the industry that a state of flux existed due to the delay in the UK government releasing the white paper on gambling reforms in the UK. He stated that the government has a significant role to play in finding the balance between protecting people from harmful outcomes and allowing freedom of choice.
Rhodes reported that across the larger operators, there had been a 16% decrease in gross gambling yield, a 13% decrease in the amount of money staked, a nearly 8% decrease in the number of players losing over £500 a month, and a 2% decrease in the number of players losing over £200 a month.
He also mentioned that players staking £50 or more per spin for slots have decreased by 76%, with some operators seeing a reduction of over 98%.
The government’s long-awaited review of the UK’s gambling laws has been postponed numerous times over the last few years. Sources close to the process believe the paper will not be released until March at the earliest. Despite officials claiming it “will publish a white paper in the coming weeks”.
