Dutch operator VBet has been embroiled in trouble for months with no help in sight. While the company’s site has been unfindable on Google for months, the company has failed to receive the support it needs.
Google Rendered VBet Unfindable
VBet’s trouble began in December 2024 when Google’s search engine started showing illegal immigration sites to people googling VBet. This has rendered its platform practically unfindable via Google, despite the fact that the company possesses a Dutch license.
Despite the operator’s best search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, it has largely failed to fix the issue. To make matters worse, Google and Meld Vals Spel, a Dutch reporting portal, have been of almost no help at all.
While VBet submitted all necessary reports, it did not receive any response from the relevant regulators. In an interview with Gambling Insider, Ed Quigley, VBet’s regional director, noted that he doesn’t see the point of the Meld Vals Spel portal if “nothing is going to be done with it.”
For context, the portal was created to allow Dutch citizens to report illegal gaming websites and facilitate action against violators of the local laws.
Quigley added that the search engine problems have significantly reduced traffic to the operator’s website, leading to “disastrous” effects for the company.
VBet Considers Turning to the KSA
SoftConstruct’s SEO team lead, David Mkrtchyan, suggested that the issue could be due to a mistake on Google’s part that has unjustly penalized VBet. Mkrtchyan said that it is possible that an employee could have thought VBet to be an unlicensed website and slammed it with a restriction.
In any case, Google has not relisted VBet yet. The company has been of little help, according to VBet representatives, who said that all it did was direct them to fill out certain forms and increase pay-per-click spend. None of this has worked yet.
To make matters worse, Google has refused to discuss the matter with VBet representatives, despite the operator’s multiple tickets. Quigley suggested that Google, as a monopoly, does not care about VBet.
The operator has so far refrained from addressing the matter to the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) but is now considering doing so.