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Ksa Plans to Eradicate Illegal Land-Based Gambling in 2023
By Shane Addinall Jan 25, 2023 LegalityJoin us as we learn more about Ksa's plans for eradicating unlicensed land-based gambling sites in the Netherlands. They will be engaging multiple legal and municipal entities across the country to ensure they can be adequately equipped.A post on the Kansspelautoriteit website by René Jansen, the chair of the Netherlands Gaming Authority, declared war on illegal land-based gaming in 2023.
Jansen threw down the gauntlet, declaring:
Quote“While enforcement in 2022 mainly took place in the online domain, our inspectors are also travelling into the country more often this year. Together with our partners looking for physically offered illegal games of chance.”
The Chairman was clear that the Ksa is not focusing solely on casino games but expanded the scope of their investigations to include slot machines, poker machines, bingos, lotteries and “gambling terminals that are used for illegal sports betting”.
Real Life Isn’t a Romantic Movie
One of the challenges the Ksa faces in the fight against illegal gambling is the twisted view of criminal organisations and underground establishments Hollywood has created.
Jansen addresses this by saying:
Quote“Anyone with a romanticised old-fashioned image of a game of bingo in a dim room, behind a curtain, in a brown café with a few small prizes on the bar, I have to disappoint them. In reality, these criminals take every opportunity to launder their criminally earned money and have not included the word ‘duty of care’ in their vocabulary.”
Another challenge is the proliferation of what they define as “small-scale physical gambling". These gambling activities are considered harmless fun but do contravene Dutch gambling law. One example was a Dutch café that ran a betting pool for its customers during the World Cup with related cash prizes.
This restaurant was acting as an unlicensed bookmaker. To highlight the severity of this action in financial terms, William Hill was fined €300,000 for doing the same thing.
Expanding Their Reach and Resources
For those hoping that the Ksa will not have the resources needed to dig too deep into this problem, Jansen discussed their plans to hire additional inspectors and work with other government departments.
He explained the process as follows:
Quote“I see increasing attention to the theme of 'undermining', where the underworld and the upper world become (threatened to) mix.”
By alerting the Hague and other municipalities to the dangers of illegal gambling to mainstream society, they can leverage these partners' legal, technical, and financial resources. Far from making this an exercise in clamping down on backroom casinos, it has become a war on organised crime across the Netherlands.
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