Kindred Plays It Safe With Dutch Pause But Expects £144m Loss

Kindred Group announced on 30 September that it will temporarily withdraw from The Netherlands, one day before the Dutch market opens for licensed casinos. The operator made this decision following the announcement from the country’s Minister for Legal Protection, Sander Dekker, on 20 September 2021.

As a result, the company stands to lose an estimated £144 million in annual EBITDA turnover. Regardless of the possible huge loss, group CEO Henrik Tjärnström explained that until they have clarity on the implicit details of the announcement, Kindred will retain this stance.

This announcement had a similar effect on other platform providers. Betsson and Leo Vegas withdrew from The Netherlands before Kindred’s announcement.

 For Clarity’s Sake

In the brief released on 30 September, Kindred noted the following:

“Kindred Group plc has taken the decision to cease any services towards Dutch citizens as of today on a temporary basis. Kindred’s ambition is to be a sustainable operator in the Netherlands contributing to the Dutch society once a licence is awarded. Today’s decision has been taken due to recent policy changes in the Netherlands, on which Kindred will seek further clarification.”

Although Kindred believes that Minister Sander Dekker does not expect providers to withdraw from their market, the company awaits clarification from the KSA and Dutch government before they will move forward with their license application.

The online gambling operator has an ongoing process in place to acquire a license with the Dutch Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), and as part of this, they are participating in a cooling-off period required for all operators who targeted Dutch players, without having a license to do so.

In 2019, Kindred Group received a fine of €470,000 for offering online gambling services without having a license. Tjärnström said that this was paid as a voluntary penalty and Kindred believes it has followed Dutch rules.

Henrik Tjärnström, CEO of Kindred Group, commented:

“We look forward to receiving our Dutch license during 2022, and thereby positively contribute to the Dutch society as a valued expert in achieving a sustainable gambling market.”

The cooling-off period will lapse on 1 November, and after this date, Kindred may go ahead with submitting their application

 Getting Their Ducks In a Row

Kindred has already passed all the required audits for the application process and come 1 November, Tjärnström says they hope to have most aspects of the license application process in place.

Currently, Kindred has no Dutch web address, they do not run Dutch marketing, and they do not offer Dutch payment solutions. As Tjärnström notes, the letter from the Minister states that having Dutch players passively should not have a connection with the licensing process. The Group’s CEO added:

“We are also working on getting our systems fully compliant and ready to go live as soon as possible, but we also have the cooling-off period to consider. We want to follow through with the process we’ve been going through for a year and a half.”

The Dutch Regulator has approved 10 licenses thus far, with half of these belonging to local Dutch companies. As of 30 September, KSA had received a total of 29 applications; however, the authority said it anticipates more submissions going forward.