EGBA and KSA discuss illegal online gambling at Brussels meeting

The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) met a delegation from Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling regulator, at EGBA's Brussels office last week, according to the trade outlet Jamma. The meeting covered the European gambling market, consumer protection, detection of potentially harmful behaviour, money-laundering prevention and the next European Safer Gambling Week.

It was reported that particular attention went to possible cooperation between public authorities and the private sector to address competition from illegal platforms, which operate outside national licensing and control systems. The meeting followed public remarks by KSA chair Michel Groothuizen outlining a European strategy against illegal gambling based on direct involvement of large technology platforms and payment intermediaries.

Groothuizen said representatives of several European regulators met Google and Meta in Dublin in spring, where both companies have their European headquarters. He said those contacts produced a joint working group that is developing, with Google, a whitelist of gambling operators licensed in the European Union, to allow quicker distinction between legal operators and unlicensed platforms and to make identification and restriction of illegal offers on digital services more effective.

Reportedly, Groothuizen said the initiative also stems from difficulties in enforcing financial penalties against unauthorised operators. Fines are an enforcement tool, but collecting the sums can be particularly complex, especially when companies operate from abroad. The Dutch regulator has therefore added to its sanctioning activity a strategy aimed at obstructing the operation of illegal platforms, reducing their online findability and interrupting the financial flows needed for gambling collection.

Data cited by Groothuizen indicate the scale of the phenomenon in the Netherlands: about 90% of online players use only legal operators, but by amounts staked, every euro spent in the licensed market corresponds to one euro going to the illegal circuit.

Cooperation with payment service providers is another point of convergence between KSA and EGBA initiatives. In July, EGBA filed a complaint with the Bank of Lithuania against payment service provider Walletto, alleging financial operations linked to illegal gambling platforms, and asked for stronger checks on the use of payment systems by unauthorised operators.

On player protection, the Brussels meeting links to European work on early detection of risky gambling behaviour. EGBA supported adoption of the European standard EN 18144 on signals of potential harm, published in May 2026, which sets out behavioural indicators operators can use to recognise problematic situations. These topics will also feature at European Safer Gambling Week 2026, scheduled for 16 to 22 November, an initiative promoted by EGBA to spread responsible gambling practices and discussion among operators, authorities and consumer protection organisations.