The Dutch Responsible Affiliates Quality Mark (KVA) have revealed a new possible strategy illegal gambling affiliates are using through Google's search engine.
According to the KVA investigation, parties are artificially influencing search behaviour to make specific domain names visible as people begin to type on the search bar. These domains refer people to illegal gambling operators.
The association expresses specific concern regarding the timeliness with which this is happening. According to its report, many pages had only been updated a few hours earlier indicating a short-cycle approach.
In August, the KVA also found a disturbing tactic used by one website to promote illegal gambling operators. The association reported that the site had been exploiting the name of the national suicide prevention helpline to attract vulnerable players.
Earlier this year, the association collaborated with the Dutch Association of Online Gambling Providers (VNLOK) on analysing the scale of illegal online gambling advertising on Meta platforms.
Based on the investigation, the KVA found that the company earns between €7.3m ($8.5m) and €13.6m per year from promoting illegal gambling to Dutch players.
A popular search term used to target Dutch players is "casino without Cruks," referring to the national self-exclusion register
