Betsson legal challenge to Dutch online gambling enforcement dismissed

The legal challenge mounted by online gambling group Betsson against the Dutch gambling regulator and its tighter regulations prohibiting offshore companies from accepting business from Dutch residents has been dismissed as inadmissible by a Dutch court.

In May this year the Kansspelautoriteit launched new regulations banning online gaming operators and their affiliates from targeting Dutch players by using typically Dutch symbols, such as tulips and windmills. The new regulations also stopped Dutch affiliates from routing players to dotcom (offshore) gambling websites on pain of severe fines.

Betsson filed litigation, claiming that the new rules violated EU regulations.

Back in 2014 the operator acquired two Dutch-facing online casinos – Oranje and Kroon – in a Euro 100 million deal, The casinos were reportedly licensed and compliant with the rather more relaxed Kansspelautoriteit regulations at the time.

The new regulations effectively banned Kroon and Oranje from the Dutch market, prompting Betsson’s legal challenge.

The much-delayed complete Dutch online gambling licensing and regulatory legislation was approved by the Lower House last year, yet appears to be bogged down in the Upper House with little evidence of recent progress.

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