Dutch licensed betting operators have received updated guidelines from the country’s gambling regulator, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), concerning money laundering and terrorist financing.
Based on the regulator’s research, consumer feedback and suggestions or questions from licensees, operators have been issued new guidelines on areas such as risk management, customer due diligence, reporting suspicious transactions, record keeping and general supervision and enforcement of regulatory measures.
This includes advice on how operators should monitor and intervene in cases of gambling addiction or compulsive betting by customers, as well as general AML requirements.
Under Dutch law, licensed bookmakers are required to monitor customer transactions and report any suspicious activity to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).
AML has been a key area of focus for the KSA in 2023, with the regulator notably issuing its largest penalty against an operator for infractions in this area. Earlier this month, Entain subsidiary BetEnt – which operates the BetCity.nl platform – was fined €3m for failing to report source-of-fund information.
Although the Dutch online gambling sector is governed primarily by the KOA Act – which has been regulating the market since October 2021 – operators are required to uphold the requirements 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”.
Beginning in 2018, the Financiën, the Dutch Ministry of Finance, revised several aspects of the WwFT to align with the EU’s Anti-Money Laundering Directive, and the legislation was subsequently applied to the KOA Act in October 2021.
Two years into Dutch online betting activity – during which time the market had grown from an initial 10 operators to 27, with the KSA believing the space is starting to mature – operators have been warned that the regulator would be closely monitoring WwFT requirements.
