The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit has successfully imposed a binding instruction on hosting provider DigitalOcean, to stop hosting illegal affiliate websites.

The banning order – a regulatory instrument below the threshold of an economic sanction – had initially been imposed upon DigitalOcean in 2023, after an investigation into two affiliate websites which were found to be in breach of the terms of the Dutch gambling legislation.

DigitalOcean, as a hosting provider, did not see itself as responsible for the content of the websites hosted for its customers, but solely a technical provider, had denied to comply with the KSA’s instructions. With the decision of the District Court of Rotterdam now, the KSA has obtained the authorisation to continue its related actions and the banning order has confirmed to be binding.

The banning order comes just days after the KSA has announced to have entered into a cooperation with hosting giant Cloudflare, in order to collaborate in identifying and shutting down unlicensed gambling websites.

Interested in further legal developments in the regulated European gambling industries, regulatory actions how to stay clear of compliance violations? Have a chat with Chevron Group’s Nikolas Lotz (nikolas@chevron.group), Lawrence Marchese (lawrence@chevron.group), Kurt Laferla (kurt@chevron.group) and Thees Buschmann (thees@chevron.group). Follow us on LinkedIn for more industry related news.

Quelle: Chevron Consultants e.K.