LeoVegas fined €500,000 for breach of duty of care
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23 Dec 2025 •
Reading time: 3 minutes In fining LeoVegas €500,000, the Dutch Gaming Authority has reiterated that online gaming operators’ duty of care is not an administrative formality, but a central obligation designed to protect players from excessive gambling.
A landmark decision in the regulation of online gambling
The Dutch gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa), has struck hard. In December 2025, the regulator imposed a fine of €500,000 on online gaming operator LeoVegas, finding that the platform had seriously breached its duty of care to several players. This penalty, made public after an in-depth investigation, is part of a policy of tighter control aimed at protecting players against the risks of addiction and excessive financial losses.
At the heart of this case is a fundamental question: how far should a gaming operator go to protect its customers? For the Ksa, the answer is clear: the duty of care is neither optional nor theoretical. It requires concrete, swift and proportionate action to be taken whenever problem gambling behaviour becomes apparent.
Warning signs ignored for months
The Ksa investigation covers the period from autumn 2023 to spring 2024. During these months, several players active on the LeoVegas platform showed clear signs of excessive gambling. Repeated deposits, high losses over short periods, rapid increases in bets: these are all indicators that, according to Dutch regulations, should trigger immediate action by the operator.
In some cases analysed by the authority, the amounts lost reached several tens of thousands of euros in a matter of weeks. However, the measures taken by LeoVegas were judged to be largely insufficient. Where in-depth human intervention would have been expected, the operator often contented itself with automatic messages or superficial warnings.
The Ksa stresses in particular that a simple contextual message, easily ignored by the player, can in no way be considered an adequate response to a clear risk of addiction. The duty of care requires more than a symbolic warning.
Duty of care, a pillar of the Dutch legal framework
Since the regulated legalisation of online gambling in the Netherlands, duty of care has been one of the cornerstones of the regulatory system. Licensed operators are obliged to actively monitor the behaviour of their customers and to intervene before damage becomes irreversible.
This duty is not limited to providing self-exclusion tools or deposit limits. It requires ongoing analysis of gambling data, an ability to interpret weak signals and, above all, a direct responsibility to protect vulnerable players.
For the Kansspelautoriteit, there is nothing arbitrary about this €500,000 fine. It is intended to be proportionate to the seriousness of the breaches observed and, above all, to act as a deterrent for the industry as a whole. The chairman of the Kansspelautoriteit reiterated that protecting players is an absolute priority, and that operators who fail to meet their obligations are liable to severe penalties.
According to the Ksa, rapid and significant losses are one of the most critical signals. When a player suffers such losses without a strong reaction from the operator, the duty of care is considered to have been breached. The responsibility then lies entirely with the platform.