As revealed on the Kindred Group’s official website, one of the company’s subsidiaries has been fined by the Netherlands Gambling Authority due to violating gambling regulations as posed by the regulator. The Stockholm-based gaming operator was fined around €470,000 for serving players from the Netherlands despite having no licenses issued to back these activities. The company’s subsidiary which was affected is Unibet which as reported unlawfully accepted real money wagers from Dutch players.
The news was released on Monday when Kindred Group used an official press release to share more details on the issue. As it was reported, the Netherlands Gambling Authority issued the penalty after it was found out that the company’s Unibet.eu domain has accepted bets from customers from the Netherlands between August up to December last year. Following the news, the Kindred Group officials stated that they will appeal the judgment as soon as they gain the right to do so.
Managing Eleven Leading Brands
Kindred Group which was formerly known as Unibet owns and operates eleven iGaming brands and operators including Maria Casino, Unibet, iGame and 32Red Casino. Since 1997 when the company was founded, it offers a variety of online gaming products such as online poker games, sports betting activities, online bingo, and online casino games. Kindred is registered in Malta while it has multiple offices across other countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Gibraltar, and Sweden.
Kindred also has several smaller satellite offices located in Australia. As of 2011, the company was awarded one of the forty-eight online gaming licenses for the regulated Danish market. Then, one year later, the company purchased a Denmark-based bookmaker Bet24. Only one year later, the company’s officials revealed that Kindred Group will move its online poker operation to an independent poker website from the popular MPN network.
In years to come, Kindred Group has signed a number of business and partnership deals which enabled its international expansion. In 2014, the company partnered with a leading iGaming brand, Thunderkick which made it one of the very first companies of this kind to offer Thunderkick-powered games on its gaming platform. In May of 2014, the company’s shareholders finally approved the spin-off of its popular Kambi Group Plc. B2B subsidiary.
When it comes to Unibet, the brand continues its acquisition route in July of 2015 after purchasing another online business, StanJames.com. In December of 2016, the Unibet’s shareholders decided to change the name of the company to what we know today as Kindred Group Plc. The re-branded company remained on its acquisition trail in 2017 after purchasing 32Red Plc. For around £175 million. With this deal, the company acquired 32Red.com among several other smaller Microgaming-backed up casinos.
Kindred Waiting for the Secondary Legislation Publication
The company’s officials stated that they will appeal the judgment while they wait for the second legislation publication. Its official press release also details that Kindred is always committed to obtaining all necessary gaming licenses on both online gaming and sportsbetting. Before these issues for Kindred Group, the country’s Gambling Authority introduced the Remote Gambling Bill which was ratified back in February.
Thanks to this ratified bill, both online sports betting, and online casino operators have the chance to obtain their local online gaming licenses starting from the beginning of 2021. One company which will apply is Kindred Group. Until then, online gaming operators are not allowed to offer their service to Dutch players.
