About this app
What is Masquerade?
It requires operators to describe in detail how they will responsibly wind down their operations should their licence not be renewed or be revoked. Or if they decide to leave the market midway through the five years between renewals.
The regulator noted that several operators received “additional points for attention”, indicating that while these applicants met minimum legal thresholds, the KSA expected continuous improvements in compliance practices.
In June, one of the operators, TOTO online BV, was reported for violating the ban on featuring role models in advertising materials.
About Masquerade
Thanks to the “rapid growth of crypto currencies” and globally recognisable branding through marketing and sponsorships, this handful of operators are generating the majority of illegal gambling traffic across Europe.
The report also cites brands targeting a specifically banned vertical or product within a jurisdiction as driving black market activity. While markets across Europe have many examples, one such flagged in the report is that iGaming remains illegal for licensed operators in France.
“The largest black market operators have scaled to create recognisable brands with traffic that can compare to domestically licensed operators,” the report’s authors wrote. “The top group of sites by common owner has a 12% share of traffic, while the largest single brand has 10%.”
About Masquerade
Last week a committee made up of MPs from across the Netherlands’ political spectrum also raised concerns around the role of Meta and Google in supporting the black market.
Candidates from the VVD party urged the government to take a “harder stance” against these big tech platforms.
Van Bruggen told the gambling committee that both Meta and Google were open to maintaining a dialogue with the government on this.
