SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Gambling Authority of the Netherlands, has published its updated guidelines to help licensed operators (land-based and online) uphold the laws of The Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing (Prevention) Act (WwFT).
The legal framework of the WwFT has been applicable as Dutch law since 2008, with the underlying aim to “prevent the financial system from being used for laundering money and financing terrorism”.
The period of 2018 to 2022 saw the Dutch Ministry of Finance, Financiën, revise several components of the WwFT to align with the member state obligations of the European Union’s Fourth Anti-Money Laundering Directive.
The laws of the WwFT were applied to the launch of the KOA marketplace on 1 October 2021, regulating online gambling in the Netherlands. Thus, WwFT laws serve as the principal framework for AML protections of the KOA marketplace.
Overseen by KSA, KOA licensed operators are required to monitor customer transactions and report any unusual transactions to the Dutch Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
KSA’s updated guidelines are based on its own research, feedback from consumers, and suggestions or questions from license holders.
Consequently, the document provides gambling providers with tools to fulfill their obligations under the WwFT. This includes a detailed step-by-step plan for investigating the source of a player’s funds, complete with examples.
Licensed operators were reminded that the guideline does not replace existing WwFT legislation and regulations and cannot be referenced as a legally binding document under Dutch administrative law.
Newly revised guidelines have been issued concerning essential aspects such as Risk Management, conducting due diligence on customers, reporting suspicious transactions, maintaining records, and supervising and enforcing regulatory measures.
Regarding the above criteria, KSA has outlined specific obligations which it advises licensed operators to conduct when monitoring and intervening in matters related to gambling addiction or compulsive gambling by customers.
New guidelines were required following feedback that prevention measures for gambling addiction were often intermingled with WwFT requirements, leading to confusion for licensed operators.
In November, KSA warned licensed operators that it would begin stringent monitoring of WwFT requirements following concerns that operators had failed to perform their respective duties.
The warning was followed by KSA issuing its largest AML penalty to date for AML infringements to the Entain subsidiary BetEnt NV, which was fined €3m for repeated failures to report on source-of-fund information on customers playing on the BetCity.nl platform.
