It has been a rocky start to 888’s return to the Netherlands iGaming market, as the evoke brand has already received its first warning from the country’s gambling authority.
Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has called out 888, which is operated by ComeOn Group’s Godwits Limited in the Netherlands, due to its “poor customer service accessibility” present following its market reentry in July earlier this year.
In a statement on its website, the KSA said the warning follows “an exceptionally high number of reports from players indicating that customer service was unavailable or difficult to reach” in addition to welcome bonuses not automatically being awarded.
Operators that are licensed in the Netherlands must have a Dutch-language customer service available to meet duty of care standards for players who contact an operator in Dutch with questions or concerns about their gambling behaviour.
Godwits noted that when the 888 website launched, it received a higher-than-expected number of requests in the customer service live chat, resulting in long wait times. The operator has since taken measures to address the issues, including hiring additional customer service representatives.
A larger number of customer service inquiries were due to a technical issue linked to the welcome bonus. Some players were not awarded their welcome bonus after making the required deposit into their account.
Players who contacted customer service were able to receive this bonus and the KSA themselves received several reports about this issue. The technical issue has since been resolved by Godwits.
iGaming Expert has reached out to evoke and ComeOn Group for comment on the warning received from the KSA.
Duty of care
Stricter guidelines for operators regarding how they can influence the behaviour of players could soon be implemented by the KSA.
This is in response to research from the agency Behavioural Insights Nederland, who were commissioned by the authority to investigate behavioural influence on online gambling platforms, with its report expected to “further focus on improving the duty of care of online providers”.
An investigation into the negative forms of behavioural management by operators will be launched by the KSA as a result of the research, examining the extent to which they violate the duty of care. Its outcomes could see stricter guidelines implemented for operators.
“At the KSA, we understand that online providers, like other commercial companies, monitor what users do on their platforms and how they can influence that to their advantage,” commented Michel Groothuizen, Chair of the KSA.
“Thanks to this research, we have a better understanding of how they do this and can also provide more guidance on negative influence and things we no longer want to see.”
