Unibet has been criticised in the Netherlands for violating the country’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (Wwft).
Optdeck Service Limited, which operates the FDJ United brand in the market, has been issued an AML/CFT directive from the Dutch gaming authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) after an investigation found that customer due diligence was ‘not being performed well enough’.
The KSA noted that transaction monitoring and control measures don’t align well with Unibet’s policy in practice and that it must adjust its policy to make the monitoring of players and their transactions more effective.
In particular, the regulator highlighted that policy adjustments are needed regarding financial thresholds.
With the directive, Unibet has been told by the KSA that it must cease the various violations. However, the regulator spotlighted that the operator had ‘a cooperative attitude and proactively worked on a remediation plan’, with some violations stopped during the investigation.
A follow-up inspection will be conducted by the KSA once the term has expired. In published documents by the regulator, the term expiration was extended in October last year.
Financial thresholds must have been adjusted by Unibet to be more effective by 17 November 2025. Continuous monitoring of business relationships and client transactions must be improved by 14 April 2026.
UPDATE: An FDJ United spokesperson told iGaming Expert: “On 24 July 2025, Unibet received a notice from the Gaming Authority (KSA) following an investigation into compliance with the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act (Wwft).
“Supervision of anti-money laundering measures is essential for an ethical gambling market. We take our role in this seriously and have drawn up an improvement plan in close consultation with the KSA. Significant improvements have now been implemented. For example, we have lowered the financial thresholds across the board and, specifically for young adults, incorporated additional differentiation based on age into the thresholds.
“According to the KSA, our player screening needs to be improved. We have reviewed our player databases and taken additional measures where necessary.
“Unibet remains committed to responsible gaming and compliance with the Wwft.”
Unibet’s recent Dutch duty of care fine
In December last year, the KSA issued a €4m fine to Unibet for failing to comply with duty of care responsibilities between 14 July 2022 and 1 July 2024.
The regulator’s investigation into player files found various duty of care violations, including depositing thousands of euros per day with no intervention upon signs of excessive gambling, as well as income information being requested weeks later, even after substantial losses occurred.
Interventions selected were also ‘far too light’, such as easily dismissible pop-up windows, as well as the fact that during financial checks, income streams that aren’t permitted were included, such as a company account.
At the time, Unibet told iGaming Expert that it ‘could have acted sooner’ in some duty of care cases, but it contested some of the conclusions the investigation reached, stating that the rules during the period of the failings ‘were less specific than they are now’.
Issuing its defence to the sanctions, Unibet has challenged the KSA over the clarity of Dutch iGaming regulations.
An FDJ United spokesperson told iGaming Expert at the time: “Unibet takes this matter and its duty of care to provide a safe gaming environment at all times very seriously. We acknowledge that, with the knowledge we have now, we could have acted sooner in the case of some of the players investigated. At the same time, we do not agree with some of the conclusions.
“The decision relates to the period June 2022–July 2024, when the rules were less specific than they are now. We applied those rules to the best of our knowledge. In its decision, the KSA applies a stricter interpretation than what was stated in the rules at the time. The legislation and regulations have since been tightened and, since October 2024, there has been a clearer framework for gambling limits.
“Since September 2024, we have been working with a new risk detection system that identifies risky gambling behaviour more quickly and leads to stricter interventions. We are also taking additional measures to protect players. The issues referred to by the KSA are no longer possible on our platform.”
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