(AsiaGameHub) –   Unibet has faced criticism in the Netherlands for breaching the nation’s Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act (Wwft).

Optdeck Service Limited, the entity operating the FDJ United brand in the Dutch market, has received an AML/CFT directive from the Netherlands’ gaming authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) following an investigation that found customer due diligence was ‘not being performed sufficiently’.

The KSA noted that Unibet’s transaction monitoring and control measures do not align well with its policy in practice, and the operator must adjust its policy to make player and transaction monitoring more effective.

Specifically, the regulator highlighted that policy adjustments are needed for financial thresholds.

Via the directive, the KSA has ordered Unibet to cease its various violations. However, the regulator pointed out that the operator had ‘a cooperative attitude and proactively worked on a remediation plan’, with some violations stopped during the investigation.

The KSA will conduct a follow-up inspection once the term expires. According to the regulator’s published documents, the term’s expiration date was extended in October last year.

Unibet must adjust its financial thresholds to be more effective by 17 November 2025. Continuous monitoring of business relationships and client transactions must be improved by 14 April 2026.

iGaming Expert has contacted Unibet to request comment on the AML/CFT directive it received from the KSA.

Unibet’s recent Dutch duty-of-care fine

In December last year, the KSA imposed a €4m fine on Unibet for failing to comply with duty-of-care responsibilities between 14 July 2022 and 1 July 2024.

The regulator’s investigation into player files uncovered various duty-of-care violations, including allowing daily deposits of thousands of euros without intervention when signs of excessive gambling were present, and requesting income information weeks later— even after substantial losses occurred.

Interventions selected were also ‘far too light’, such as easily dismissible pop-up windows, and during financial checks, non-permitted income streams (like company accounts) were included.

At the time, Unibet told iGaming Expert that it ‘could have acted sooner’ in some duty-of-care cases but contested some of the investigation’s conclusions, stating that the rules during the period of the failings ‘were less specific than they are now’.

In its defence against the sanctions, Unibet has challenged the KSA over the clarity of Dutch iGaming regulations.

A spokesperson for FDJ United told iGaming Expert at the time: “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.”

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