The Netherlands’ Gaming Authority (Kansspelautoriteit/KSA) announced that it has issued a fine to another operator. This time, the violator failed to properly shield its players from gambling harm.
The Operator Allowed Several Young Adults to Play Excessively
In its announcement, the KSA confirmed Tulipa Ent Limited, the parent company of the popular ComeOn brand, as the business that breached the Dutch regulations. The KSA elaborated that Tulipa failed to properly protect its players from gambling excessively, leading to the financial penalty.
The KSA added that it investigated 10 separate player accounts, which incurred significant losses. To make matters worse, the accounts were held by young adults, who the Netherlands considers to be a particularly vulnerable group when it comes to gambling.
From December 2023 to September 2024, the accounts in question lost significant money to gambling. The KSA did not disclose exactly how much the player lost but noted that the sum was within thousands of euros and happened in a very short time.
Despite the clear flags of potential problem gambling, Tulipa failed to notice the players earlier enough and, by extension, could not intervene in time. As a result, the players were allowed to continue playing without a deposit limit that could have prevented some of the losses.
Operators Should Be More Socially Responsible
As a result of the violation, the KSA opted to levy a fine of EUR 750,000 ($874,300) against Tulipa, arguing that it should have noticed the players earlier.
Micher Groothuizen, the chair of KSA’s board, noted that his team has noticed that gambling operators’ implementation of the Netherlands’ social responsibility/duty of care requirements is often varied and sometimes leaves much to be desired.
We have therefore carried out additional research with different providers, resulting in the various duty of care fines that we now see coming out. On something as essential as the duty of care, providers should absolutely not cut corners, certainly not where vulnerable target groups such as young adults are concerned.
Michel Groothuizen, chair, KSA
KSA Wants to Protect Vulnerable Players
The fine against Tulipa aligns with the KSA’s staunch commitment to protecting the local market and ensuring that licensees follow the rules.
A few weeks ago, the authority issued a fine of $590K against LeoVegas, which also failed to meet the KSA’s duty of care criteria.
In October, BetCity received a fine of over $3 million after failing to protect younger gamblers from harm.