The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has introduced the highly-awaited new fine system, which is part of the country’s new approach to diminishing illegal operators and improving compliance with Dutch gambling regulations.
The new fine system is a 5-tier penalty process that includes five categories, with fines ranging from the smallest fine of €500 for Category 1 to a minimum of €2 million for fines in Category 5.
Depending on the violation, the penalty system will be applied appropriately depending on the severity of the crime and the magnitude of the violation, with fines from Category 5 even having the potential to land the perpetrator in court.
More specifically, fines from the Category 5 tier are exclusively reserved for violations regarding the Netherlands’ Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act (WWFT), a breach that carries the maximum penalty.
From here, despite the minimum fine for Category 5 violations being €2 million, companies and operators could face penalties of up to €5 million for certain Category 5 violations.
Moreover, the Dutch gambling regulator states that it is also pondering a fine related to a turnover of 3% of the GGR (gross gaming revenue) for non-WWFT violations in Category 4.
Hitting operators with a turnover-related penalty seems to be the dealmaker, as the KSA believes that by taking turnover into account when applying Category 4 fines, the companies will think twice before violating the fine system as this “increases the effectiveness of the fine”.
Michel Groothuizen, Chairman of the board at the Kansspelautoriteit, commented on the new fine system and added that the entire point of this penalty policy is to “create clarity” and, hopefully, motivate them even further to “avoid fines.”
The KSA is becoming increasingly professional as an organization. After the opening of the online market in 2021, we were given a new category of licence holders. In 2022, we imposed the first fine on a licence holder. We have now gained enough experience to arrive at a well-considered fine policy for both licence holders and other parties. This creates clarity for the parties under our supervision and hopefully motivates them even more to avoid fines.
While the new fine system does apply to all gambling-related violations supervised by the KSA, fine policies related to illegal online supply, gambling terminals, and illegal exploitation will remain under separate policy regulations only with a different penalty system for these instances.
