On Friday, the Dutch gaming authority, known as KSA, took action by revoking a lottery licence that had been fraudulently acquired under the name of the amateur football club Quick Boys. The KSA found that an unknown individual had impersonated the club's chairman during the application process to secure permission to run a lottery, which led to the creation of multiple websites offering lottery tickets.
The gaming authority clarified that Quick Boys had no role in the application for the licence and is considered a victim of identity fraud in this case.
A consumer warning was issued, advising the public against submitting any personal or financial details on the fraudulent websites. Individuals who had purchased lottery tickets were urged to reach out to their banks, file police reports, and inform both the national fraud helpdesk and the KSA to help evaluate the scope of the fraud.
In response to the incident, the KSA has also filed its own police report but has refrained from making further comment while investigations are ongoing.
The KSA highlighted an alarming increase in attempts to obtain licences using fabricated information, allowing fraudsters to illegitimately gather consumer funds. There have been instances where enhanced verification procedures successfully thwarted similar fraudulent activities, though the regulator has not disclosed the specifics of the operators involved.
Following the Quick Boys incident, the KSA has rapidly intensified its identity verification protocols and increased the scrutiny of domain names listed in its public Gambling Guide (Kansspelwijzer). Ella Seijsener, the director of licensing at KSA, emphasized the significance of maintaining consumer trust in licensed activities, acknowledging the gravity of the recent breach.
"We take the fact that a scammer managed to mislead our application process very seriously," she stated.
Additionally, the KSA has recently revised its guidelines regarding statutory means testing for online gambling players. This update comes after inspections revealed persistent issues despite improvements across the sector. The means test is designed to ensure that players do not gamble beyond their financial means and is a critical element of the KSA's "duty of care" framework introduced in 2024.
