Optdeck Service Ltd, operator of Unibet in the Netherlands, has been fined €4m over duty of care failures.
The Dutch gambling commission, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), confirmed that the failures occurred between 14 July 2022 and 1 July 2024, and that they were related to insufficient player protection measures.
“Gambling companies must protect players as much as possible from excessive participation and gambling addiction,” the regulator said.
Within the files requested and examined by the KSA, it was revealed that Optdeck continuously failed to intervene in cases where problem gambling indicators were present.
Several incidents involved gamblers spending “thousands of Euros” per day but information about their income was requested only weeks after. Also present in the documents reviewed by the KSA was an instance where money from a business account was used to gamble – a prohibited practice under Dutch law.
Michel Groothuizen, KSA Chairman, commented: “When there are signs of immoderate gambling behavior and someone bets a huge amount of money in a short time, a provider must investigate the origin of the money.
“It is essential that providers carry out this analysis adequately, because not all financial resources may simply be included. The KSA takes violations of the duty of care very seriously and will continue to act hard against them.”
SBC News managed to contact Unibet for some comments on the above, and received the following: “Unibet takes this matter and its duty of care to provide a safe gaming environment at all times very seriously. We acknowledge that, with the knowledge we have now, we could have acted sooner in the case of some of the players investigated.
“At the same time, we do not agree with some of the conclusions. The decision relates to the period June 2022–July 2024, when the rules were less specific than they are now. We applied those rules to the best of our knowledge.
“In its decision, the KSA applies a stricter interpretation than what was stated in the rules at the time. The legislation and regulations have since been tightened and, since October 2024, there has been a clearer framework for gambling limits.
“Since September 2024, we have been working with a new risk detection system that identifies risky gambling behaviour more quickly and leads to stricter interventions. We are also taking additional measures to protect players. The issues referred to by the KSA are no longer possible on our platform.”
Unibet, is everything alright?
This is not the first time Optdeck has landed in trouble with the Dutch regulator. Earlier in September, the operator was charged an additional €450,000 for offering Unibet customers bets on prohibited markets – corner kicks, yellow cards, and under-21 games.
The violations went on from October 2022 to May 2025 – overlapping with the time period when the player protection failures occurred.
Similar duty of care breaches are not limited just to Optdeck, however. Earlier this year, Unibet received a penalty of AU$1m (£481,000) in Australia for failure to restrict the access of hundreds of self-excluded accounts.
Another case from just over two months ago saw Platinum Gaming, operator of Unibet in the UK, receive a whopping £10m penalty for social responsibility and AML beaches
All of these instances build up the case for a bigger question – are such significant oversights region-locked or is there something far more bigger going on centrally at Unibet and its parents Kindred Group and FDJ United that requires urgent attention?
Optdeck Service Ltd, operator of Unibet in the Netherlands, has been fined €4m over duty of care failures. The Dutch gambling commission, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), confirmed that the failures occurred between 14 July 2022 and 1 July 2024, and that they were related to insufficient player protection measures. “Gambling companies must protect players as much as …