The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Gambling Authority of the Netherlands, has fined Curaçao-licensed online gambling group Alimaniere Ltd €1 million. The fine relates to Dutch players gambling on the unlicensed website time2spin.com, a subsidiary of Alimaniere Ltd.
Despite an IP block on time2spin.com, the KSA found that the operator created a second website, timetospin1.com, allowing Dutch players to access their existing accounts. The KSA has now blocked both websites.
The KSA stated that the fine exceeded the basic €600,000 due to multiple violations and aggravating factors.
Last week, the KSA introduced a new ‘General Policy of Fines’ under the Remote Gambling Act (KOA). The policy expands the scope of penalties for KOA violations and breaches of the Netherlands’ Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft).
The framework categorises fines from Category 1 for basic violations to Category 5 for severe cases, with penalties starting at €2 million. The KSA can double fines for repeat offenders under its “recidivism adjustments” policy.
Michel Groothuizen, chairman of the KSA, said: “The Netherlands has a legal gambling market to ensure people can gamble safely. Illegal operators often neglect measures to prevent risky gambling behaviour, such as age verification. Minors were able to play, and players were charged inactivity fees. We take firm action against these practices.”
At the end of last year, the Netherlands’ Gambling Authority, has launched an advertising campaign that raises the awareness of self-exclusion for gambling.
The “pack your life again, take a gambling stop’ initiative is a continuation of KSA’s pilot self-exclusion marketing of the national CRUKS register from last year.
The primary target group of the campaign is young adults who may be experiencing problem gambling behaviour. Therefore, the marketing efforts behind the awareness initiative are all largely focused on social media rather than traditional media outlets.
Across the online videos, social ads and posts, a number of young people can be seen interacting with others in various social situations, implicating the importance of interpersonal relationships and how losing control over gambling can harm them.
Operated by the KSA, CRUKS was launched back in 2021 as part of the Dutch government’s mandate of the Remote Gambling Act (KOA) to regulate the online gambling market.
Under the rule book, all online gambling providers are by law to ensure that new players are not listed on the CRUKS registry before onboarding them onto their systems.
The KOA is currently subject to reforms, with a recent evaluation of the regulatory framework by the Research Agency for Justice and Security finding policy shortcomings when it comes to establishing a responsible gambling environment.
Reforms are spearheaded by the Dutch Secretary of State for Legal Protections, Teun Struycken, who remains committed to ironing out potential discrepancies in the license holders’ duty of care even at the turn of the new year.