KSA: Illegal gambling has plunged since re-regulation of Dutch market

The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) chairman René Jansen has revealed that unlicensed gambling in the country has diminished considerably since the opening of the legal online market.

The legal market opened on 1 October 2021 and following this, the KSA highlighted that one particular deterrent was the introduction of “significantly higher fines” for those offering illegal operations.

Resulting from this, Jansen announced that 158 illegal sites have been investigated since the start of October.

Of the 158, a total of 142 have withdrawn from the market, while follow-up investigations and possible sanctions have been undertaken regarding the remaining 16 sites.

Speaking at the annual gaming industry conference in Amsterdam on Friday, Jansen announced that after 1 October “it appeared that a number of large providers without a licence had discontinued their offer in the Netherlands”.

He added: “This was exactly the intention of the new law: the legal offer had to push the illegal offer away. With legal providers, the player is assured of a fair game and attention to preventing gambling addiction.”

There are currently 30 Netherlands licence applications in process, including heavyweights Betsson, Kindred and Entain, which are in line for re-admission into the market following a cooling-off period of two years and nine months which ended on 1 April this year.

The KSA has stated that according to previous experience, one in three applicants succeeds in passing the licensing process.

The cooling-off period was introduced on 1 July 2019 against operators for serving Dutch players without a licence.