The Netherlands gambling authority has taken enforcement action against both Vbet and LeoVegas.
While both companies have been rebuked by Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), it's LeoVegas that has come off the worst, financially speaking, with the operator being issued a €500,000 ($587,000) fine.
For the BetConstruct-owned Vbet, the punishment was just a warning and the KSA has acknowledged the company's willingness to cooperate and its proactive recovery plan.
Duty of care to customers and a failure to adequately protect players was the cause for LeoVegas's punishment, while for Vbet it was an issue with the operator's anti-money laundering procedures.
The KSA frequently monitors its licensees to check on compliance with the WWFT, the legislation that pertains to money laundering and terrorist financing in the gambling industry.
After a risk assessment and investigation of documents starting in April 2025, the KSA found that the operator is not properly implementing its company-wide risk assessment in this regard.
This has diminished the regulator's confidence in Vbet's ability to prevent money laundering.
As for LeoVegas, the issues were more severe, with several player files requested from the operator demonstrating violations of duty of care.
Interventions in the name of player safety were found to be arriving too late and ineffective when they did arrive.
The Chairman of the KSA board, Michel Groothuizen, commented: "The duty of care is an essential component of the broader spectrum of player protection. Providers must respond appropriately to excessive gambling."
One instance of a player protection failure was cited in the KSA statement and described how a player lost tens of thousands of euros over a short period of time.
On this, Groothuizen went on to say: "Significant losses in a short period of time are a key indicator of this. We have intensified our oversight of this duty of care and are taking a firm stance against gambling providers, as such a crucial element cannot be neglected."
Overall, the authority found that during the period from October 2023 to May 2024, LeoVegas' duty of care efforts were negligent - often a player showing signs of excessive gambling would receive a pop-up that the KSA deemed ineffectual and too easy to dismiss.
Vbet's Dutch online platform has been unsearchable on organic Google search for much of this year
