Dutch Council of State upholds KSA refusal of Sabofra slot-machine licence
Licences & markets2 min read
The Netherlands’ Council of State upheld the KSA’s refusal to grant Sabofra a new slot-machine operating licence, leaving the refusal final in this administrative case. The regulator cited three grounds, including a related company’s alleged facilitation of illegal online gambling through cash centres and Sabofra’s operation of machines without a valid licence in February 2023; the court found the refusal required under gambling law.
The Council of State has left in place the Rechtbank Midden-Nederland ruling on Sabofra's application for a new slot-machine licence. The refusal of the licence is therefore final in this administrative procedure.
Sabofra had operated slot machines since 1982 and held a licence until January 2023. The KSA rejected its application for a new licence on 28 March 2023. The regulator based that decision on three grounds. The first was that a company under the same holding had facilitated illegal online gambling through three cash centres. The second, according to the KSA, was debt laundering. The third was that Sabofra operated slot machines without a licence on 9 February 2023 because its old licence had expired.
Through the cash centres, customers could open an account with cash and deposit credit. That credit could then be used to gamble on the illegal website Forzza. Sabofra stated that it did not know the terminals were being used for illegal gambling. The company believed customers could use them to buy vouchers and other products. The Council of State did not accept this argument. According to the court, Sabofra should have investigated the invoices and the exceptionally high revenues of the cash centres further. The court said the company should have concluded from this that the revenues could not come only from regular purchases. The court held that the facts on which the KSA based its decision cannot be reconciled with operating slot machines.
Sabofra also argued that the refusal was disproportionate. The Council of State ruled that the Gambling Act obliges the KSA to refuse a licence when the requirements for moral conduct are not met. It said that Sabofra's existence since 1982 and the absence of earlier negative decisions are not a special circumstance justifying an exception.