Dutch high court rules against Betsson subsidiary appeal in editorial advertising case
KSA chairman René Jansen hails 'important statement' with final ruling on 2015 case versus Content Publishing Limited
A Netherlands high court has ruled in favour of the Dutch Gambling Authority (KSA) in an historic case between the regulator and a Betsson affiliate subsidiary.
The case centres around Malta-based firm Content Publishing Limited, which was hit with an injunction and threat of a financial penalty by the KSA back in 2015 for publishing online gambling text with links to operator sites.
The KSA claimed the promotional text constituted illegal advertising. Betsson initially appealed the KSA’s decision, but that appeal was dismissed by a Dutch court in January 2019.
Betsson appealed further, taking the case to the Dutch Council of State, the highest court in the Netherlands.
In its appeal, the Malta-headquartered operator claimed the decision to issue an injunction and penalties were unlawful and disproportionate. It also argued that the promotional text used concerned ‘editorial information’ and did not constitute advertising, so was therefore not illegal.
This latest decision, made in the Hague on Wednesday, concurs with that judgment, dismissing all three arguments made by Betsson.
In its ruling, the court stated that the editorial material was “designed to forward potential players to providers of online casino games and that the KSA rightly regards this as promoting gambling.”
Advertising of gambling-related services is currently illegal under Dutch law without a Dutch gambling licence. Online gambling is currently illegal in the Netherlands, subject to the potential launch of a regulated market in July 2021.
Speaking about the ruling, chairman of the board of directors of the KSA René Jansen said the ruling set an important precedent on gambling advertising.
“This is the first time that the judge has ruled in a case like this. It is now clear that publishing a promotional text is seen as advertising. This ruling offers the KSA opportunities to act if advertising is conducted in this way for games of chance that are not licensed,” said Jansen.
EGR has approached Betsson Group for comment.
Picture credit: Source: iStock/BrianAJackson