The Dutch Gaming Authority – Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) – has issued a warning to M.K.C. Limited, requiring the company to either exit the local gambling market or face a hefty weekly fine that the country’s gambling watchdog will then move forward to collect. The gambling company, which owns and runs the Betworld247.com platform, has been found to violate the Dutch gambling laws.
The “cease-and-desist” letter of Kansspelautoriteit to the gambling operator was issued a week ago. In it, the country’s gambling regulatory body insists that the company needs to comply with its request fully. Otherwise, M.K.C. Limited will face a monetary fine of €28,000 weekly.
According to the industry watchdog, local customers were able to access the website and sign up for its services and cited cases that date back to May 24th and 25th, and June 8th, 2022. The Dutch Gaming Authority further noted that the gambling website did not make any effort to suspend the player from accessing the gambling products available on the company’s website and offered them without a special operating license that allows such operation on the local gambling market.
Unfortunately, the reported instance of transgressions of M.K.C. Limited is not an isolated case involving a lack of compliance. The country’s regulatory body revealed that the gambling site operated by the company was visited by a total of 376,595 unique IP addresses in the year between June 2021 and May 2022, with the number of repeat visits not shared.
The Netherlands Unveils Stricter Gambling Regulation to Make the Sector Safer
The Kansspelautoriteit reminded that gambling companies that do now hold the required operating permits under the October 1st, 2022 reregulation of the sector are expected to leave the gambling market of the Netherlands.
Companies that operate in the country need to make sure that they are fully in line with the new and stricter laws. They are supposed to provide their customers with fair and transparent conditions, along with an adequate level of consumer protection and safety guards. According to the KSA, this can only be achieved in a safe and regulated environment.
The competent authorities in the Netherlands have continued to invest much time and effort in ensuring that a gold standard is established in the country’s gambling sector – a task that has proven to be a monumental piece of work. Earlier in September, the Dutch Gaming Authority addressed another gambling company – LCS Limited – and asked it to voluntarily exit the market following some breaches found in the company’s operations. At the time, the Kansspelautoriteit insisted that LCS Limited should stop the provision of any of its services to Dutch users.
René Jansen, the chair of the gambling regulatory body, explained that he expects regulated companies in the country to improve and make more efforts to protect customers. Earlier in 2022, the Netherlands unveiled stricter regulatory measures for the local gambling industry, suspending influencers and celebrities popular with underage people to ink gambling partnership agreements to promote gambling brands to Dutch customers.
