Last Friday, Kansspelautoriteit, the Netherlands Gambling Authority announced that it had begun a resh countdown on gambling affiliate websites ahead of the launch of the country’s regulated online gaming market. The goal was to prevent these affiliate marketers from promoting their online gambling sites to Dutch gamblers – this is a violation in the country’s current regulatory regime.
As part of the regulator’s latest campaign, it investigated and reviewed a total of 44 affiliate websites – these websites were examined based on Kansspelautoriteit’s own observations as well as based on reports from external parties. While the gambling regulator did not reveal who delivered the ‘external reports’, it is speculated that they were filed by local gaming operators who feel that the international licensed online gaming operators were encroaching on their turf.
Out of the 44 websites that were investigated by the gaming regulator, a total of 26 were found to have unauthorized online gambling marketing. The 26 sites targeted customers in the country with offers to register with some online gambling operators. According to current Dutch gambling laws, any unlicensed online gambling company is not allowed to offer their products or services on the territory of the country. In addition to that, these sites’ affiliate partners are prohibited from advertising such products and services to Dutch gamblers.
Kansspelautoriteit has struggled to enforce this for years since the foreign operators have previously been able to circumvent the ban. To counter their moves, the regulator has been imposing hefty fines over the years, but it has not been able to collect due to legislative limitations.
The Reorganization of the Dutch Market
In a bid to protect Dutch gambler, the Dutch Senate in February approved a legislative bill that called for the reorganization of the country’s gambling market. Rather than continuing to fight the international gaming operators, the new law has been structured in a manner that allows them to apply for licenses from Kansspelautoriteit and operate as part of the country’s regulated environment.
Even so, any operator that may have been in violation of the country’s gambling laws will still have to face the consequences which will be in the form of a two-year cooling-off period during which they will not be able to apply for the gambling licenses. As such, during the license review process, the Dutch gaming regulator will be taking into consideration such things as the payment methods, advertising history as well as the use of websites with the .nl extension. If these are found to be, in any way, related to the Dutch market, the international online gaming operator that is at fault will need to sit it out for the next two years before being able to apply for the license again.
