Kansspelautoriteit Penalizes William Hill with €300,000

644
December 18th, 2018
Back Kansspelautoriteit Penalizes William Hill with €300,000

The Netherlands Gambling Authority has issued another massive penalty against a bookmaker from London, England for targeting players in the country without a proper license for online gaming.

In other words, William Hill will have to cash out $338,700 to cover the expenses for offering online casino products to Dutch consumers via its main platform and two mobile applications.

As a reminder, the regulator penalized MRG for IP blocking in September 2018, ordering the brand to pay up a sum of $312,500 for not complying with the state’s regulations regarding iGaming.

Hill To Appeal Against The Fine

Since online gambling is currently prohibited in the Netherlands, and the state needs proper legislation, consumers have found a glitch to play card games such as blackjack, roulette and poker, with sports betting included.

In November 2018, Willem van Oort, founder of Gaming in Holland, stated that Kansspelautoriteit is in need of further re-regulating, insinuating that politicians show little initiative to set a political agenda for remote gaming.

To enumerate further, the KSA noted that users translated Hill’s website into Dutch, which also offers the iDEAL payment service for online transactions. This banking method is available to customers with a Netherlands bank account, and it belongs to the most widely used systems in the country.

According to a William Hill spokesperson, the operator will appeal against the fine which is in contradictory to KSA’s ongoing efforts to protect consumers in the state. Rene Jansen, chairman and executive board at the authority said:

“A player who gambles with an illegal provider does without any protection; there is no supervision so it is impossible to ensure these companies are conducting business fairly, and that is why the KSA acts against illegal providers.

“Protecting the consumer is an important objective of the KSA, in addition to preventing gambling addiction and combating illegality.”

The UK’s top betting site added that numerous gambling companies have been fined for violating similar regulations, but none of them paid the fine…

KSA Persistent in Shutting Down Illegal Gambling

Apart from sanctioning MRG and William Hill, the Dutch regulator also punished Betsson Group subsidiary, Corona Ltd, for providing services without a license. The operator must pay over $300,000 but it decided to appeal against the fine…

Nevertheless, the government is keen on shutting down illegal operators in the country, as it represents an unlawful activity that strengthens the ‘bad sector.’

The outgoing chairman and vice-chairman of the KSA, Jan Suyver and Henk Kesler, have expressed discontent at the state’s failed attempts to legalize iGaming on multiple occasions, saying that the next period could be crucial for the country.

It remains to be seen whether the KSA will make further progress and adopt the proposed iGaming framework in 2019. The bill has failed to progress mostly due to its 29% tax on operator’s gross gaming revenue.

Source:

“William Hill to appeal €300k Dutch fine”, igamingbusiness.com, December 14, 2018.

“William Hill will have to cash out $338,700 to cover the expenses”

Gambling Law & Society News
Back to articles
100% welcome bonus at Rich Palms!

Search

Search Results

Select language

English English Italiano Italiano Nederlands Nederlands

Don't show this again

Share on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Share