KSA begins penalty enforcement against Curaçao Casbit Group

The Dutch Gambling Authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has penalised Curaçao-licensed Casbit Group N.V of offering illegal gambling products through the lala.bet website. 

In an official statement, the KSA reminded public and private shareholders that gambling offers directed to Dutch consumers without the appropriate permit is illegal in the Netherlands, and that the regulator will continue its pursuit of businesses infringing regulations. 

Casbit in particular was ordered last week to pull back its offering with immediate effect, and warned that failure to comply will result in a penalty of €280,000 per week until the order has been fulfilled, which can lead to a maximum fine of €840,000 being imposed. 

While the operator initially agreed to comply, on a subsequent review the KSA found that Dutch customers could still access Lala Bet, which instigated the first €280,000 penalty. 

Since 2022, KSA has undertaken a tougher supervision of the Netherlands online gambling marketplace, to ensure that consumers are protected from unlicensed operators, specifically branding Curaçao-licensed operators as a threat to the KOA market.

“Offering illegal games of chance undermines that system and the safety of the player and the KSA therefore strictly enforces (rules),” the KSA added. 

If the breach continues even after the penalty’s implementation, another step that the KSA can take is to leverage its recent partnerships with global hosting providers DigitalOcean and Cloudflare and not only block access to all Casbit online offerings on the Dutch market, but also exchange information to pursue further action against the owners of Casbit on an individual level.