SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has added further amendments to the approved ‘Remote Gaming Act’ (KOA Act) as it moves to launch the country’s online gambling licensing window from 1 April 2021.
KSA informed that it had approved ‘wwft guidelines’ to be added to the KOA Act – as a means to strengthen the legislation’s remit on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
The decision will see wwft guidelines and reporting measures applied across all operators that are granted online gambling licenses by KSA.
Previous rules had seen wwft standards solely applied to the AML reporting duties of state-owned Holland Casino’s 14 land-based properties.
Established by the IMF in 2010, wwft guidelines are set of ‘statutory tasks’ which the monetary agency urges governments to adopt as a standard compliance duty for companies in ‘high risk’ sectors to combat global AML and criminal financing threats.
KSA stated that it would provide licensed parties with tools and reporting functions to comply with the KOA Act’s new wwft demands.
“The amended Wwft Guideline was submitted to a number of parties for consultation at an earlier stage,” it said. “The responses were used to clarify parts of the wwft Guideline, including user identification and verification, crediting and debiting of gaming accounts without undue delay and at the exact moment in which a business relationship is agreed.”
Providing further details with regards to its AML amendments, KSA revealed that it had placed ‘special consideration’ for potential risks and AML complexities involved in ‘match-fixing’ as a gambling-related threat.
Moving forward, all wwft obligations will be outlined in the ‘KOA decree’, providing licensed parties exact specifications on their AML duties.
