Bet365, LiveScore and tombola among first Dutch licensees
KSA confirms local incumbents and handful of international firms in initial list as Kindred, LeoVegas and Betsson wait in the wings
Bet365, tombola, GGPoker and LiveScore have all been granted online gambling licences from the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA).
The international operators were named among 10 firms in the KSA’s debut list of licensees ahead of the Netherlands’ online gambling market officially going live on 1 October.
Malta-headquartered slots provider Play North Limited also received a licence from the regulator, with Belgian firm Bingoal also netting approval.
Local operators TOTO Online BV, FPO Netherlands BV, Holland Casino and Betent rounded out the first round of licensees.
These licensees can effectively launch operations from 1 October, giving them a crucial headstart on the competition.
However, many of Europe’s biggest names including Entain, Flutter Entertainment, William Hill, 888, Kindred Group, LeoVegas and Betsson Group were absent from the initial tranche.
Earlier this week, the KSA confirmed that 29 applications were submitted, effectively meaning that just one in three applications passed the regulator’s test for licensing.
“High requirements are imposed on a licence, including in the field of addiction prevention and consumer protection and the KSA tests this rigorously,” KSA chairman René Jansen confirmed.
The KSA is expected to issue more licences in the short term, with groups of applications still to be processed via a dedicated licensing assessment hub, which had been established to deal with an influx of more than 125 potential licence applications based on expressions of interest from operators.
However, in March, the KSA revealed that initial interest had shrunk dramatically to just 35 expected licence awards, later declining again to the 29 confirmed by the regulator.
Waiting in the wings for Dutch licences are those operators which have been previously sanctioned by the KSA under its controversial prioritisation criteria.
The criteria, which has been enforced for more than three years, allows the KSA to investigate online gambling operators which may be illegally targeting Dutch players if certain indicators are established.
These include the use of a .NL web domain name, Dutch symbols including tulips and windmills, offering customer support and websites in the Dutch language, and the integration of the iDEAL payment method.
Using this criterion, the KSA has issued fines against a multitude of well-known international operators, which are subject to a “cooling-off” period of two years and eight months to coincide with the opening of the regulated market.
Under this cooling-off period, previously sanctioned operators are barred from entering the Dutch market until after they have maintained a period of inactivity where they do not actively target Dutch players.
The KSA this month issued an ultimatum to unlicensed operators targeting the Dutch market to cease all online gaming operations by the go live date of 1 October.