Dutch regulator finds seven licensed operators guilty of offering bets on underage football
KSA has warned all bookmakers involved to cease the relevant offerings, as well as declaring other operators “must be alert to these types of errors”
The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) has determined that a group of licensed operators have been offering bets on a host of unauthorised sporting fixtures, including youth football.
The KSA has concluded its investigation and has refrained from naming the bookmakers in question but found that markets were created for youth football matches and amateur competitions.
The regulator ruled that customers were able to bet on the number of corners and cards in certain fixtures.
Operators are not permitted to offer markets on youth football, due to what the regulator describes as “an increased risk of manipulation”.
As many as seven operators were found to have included markets for users to place wagers on fixtures where the participants were 21 years old or younger.
Of those seven, two were guilty of offering markets on specific events within the match, such as corners and yellow cards.
The KSA claimed that this offence took place multiple times over the course of the 2023-24 campaign.
All of the companies involved have been ordered to cease and desist from the prohibited offer, while those that have not yet flagged such an offence to the KSA “must be alert to these types of errors and report any incidents” to the regulator.
The Dutch regulator’s update confirmed that it plans to conduct more checks into the operators involved to determine whether each has adhered to respective cease-and-desist warning.
Since the launch of the regulated market in 2021, the KSA has prohibited betting on certain fixtures and certain markets within them in order to reduce the threat of match-fixing.
The governing body views those under the age of 21 as easier to manipulate and therefore does not allow bets to be placed on fixtures involving players of that age group, while components such as corners and the number of cards shown are also regarded as possessing a higher risk of match-fixing.
Meanwhile, the KSA has ramped up its efforts to combat unlicensed operators in recent months, with two subjected to penalty payment orders on 29 November.
Techno Offshore Limited, which operates simplecasino.com and nolimitbet.com, and Novatech Solutions, which oversees qbet.com and 55bet.com, were both told to “immediately stop their offerings”.