Dutch KSA Issues 10 Online Gambling Licenses, Yet Delays The Official Launch

The official Dutch gambling regulator, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), granted 10 online gambling licenses on October the 1st. Only none of the eligible providers managed to launch. The main reason for this drawback is due to technical issues with the Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen (Cruks), the Dutch official self-exclusion system.

Out of the total 10 online gambling licenses issued by the Dutch KSA, 4 are local. In addition to 6 being offshore companies. Interestingly, the domestic brands include two companies that the Dutch government partially owns. These are the Dutch Lottery (Toto) and the Holland Casino. The remaining Dutch companies are Fairplay and BetCity.

Moreover, the six foreign companies that received a license are Play North (Batavia), Tombola, Livescore Malta, Hillside (Bet365), NSUS Mata (GG Poker) and Bingoal. All in all, more than 100 companies expressed interest to enter the Dutch market. However, only 30 applied for the online gambling license. And out of those 30, only 10 are eligible to provide services and eventually obtained the gambling license by the KSA.

There are several reasons as to why there are so many rejections of applicants. That is simply because many companies didn’t comply with Dutch rules when it comes to gambling problems and player protection. On the other hand, there are also companies that are on the bad side of the KSA. And what is mind-boggling is that some of the brands include giants such as Pokerstars, Bwin and Unibet.

According to the regulator, these companies offered illegal services in the country, prior to the official regulations. Moreover, these services include offering iDeal as a payment method and creating pages with Dutch language writings. While it is safe to say that the ban is temporary (6 months), it still baffles how such big companies can allow such discrepancies. Truly amazing.