KSA Chair Calls for Unified, Europe-wide Offensive to Combat Illegal Gambling Market

The chair of the Dutch gambling regulator has reiterated calls for tougher action across Europe to tackle the illegal gambling market.

Michel Groothuizen wrote in his latest Kansspelautoriteit (Dutch Gambling Authority) blog post after attending the annual debate on gambling regulation in the House of Representatives.

He said he was buoyed by calls from members to introduce new tools to tackle unlicensed brands, such as allowing the KSA to use fake identities to expose regulatory failings at illegal operators.

But he added: “I felt that almost all spokespersons lacked focus on one important point: our international clout.”

KSA chair speaks out on illegal igaming market

“In my view, it is naive to cling to the idea that a well-regulated legal national market and a national regulator are sufficient to tackle this problem,” Groothuizen said.

“We are fighting a global network of ruthless criminal organisations with dedicated community police officers, whereas we should actually be deploying an international investigative service.”

Groothuizen has been among the most vocal leaders of European gambling regulators on the topic of the illegal market – especially when it comes to intercontinental co-operation.

He admitted that recent fines against operators the regulator has deemed illegal – such as the €24.8m penalty to Novatech in March – only go so far, noting there is “not much payment of fines.”

Enforcement action evaluated

“We impose fines running into the tens of millions, but which are, relatively speaking, only a fraction of what they would have had to pay in taxes on their profits if they had been legal,” Groothuizen said.

“Moreover, we impose these fines on parties that change their legal guise even faster than they pop up.

“And even if we know who they are and where they are located, they turn out to have established themselves in the Comoros or in other places where our long arm of the law cannot reach. Consequently, there is not much actual payment of fines.”

Views not widely shared

Groothuizen said the “lack of attention” from the House of Representatives on the bigger picture “very likely means that the department will also work on European rules only sporadically, hidden among all the other priorities the House sets.”

“I find that regrettable because illegal providers have long been operating across borders,” he added.

“Their entire habitat is international, from financial flows to advertisements on social media. Real impact requires clout at the European level. That realisation does not yet seem to be widely shared in the House of Representatives.”

Groothuizen’s calls on an intercontinental level come amid the Dutch government looking to move ahead with a blanket ban on gambling advertising.