The Dutch gambling regulator has ordered Holland Casino Online and Vbet to remove betting markets on football own goals, after finding that the products breached its sports integrity rules and carried an elevated risk of manipulation.
The Kansspelautoriteit said the two operators had offered bets on whether a player would score an own goal, a market it classifies as a prohibited “negative event” because it can be influenced by a single action. Such bets are regarded by the regulator as more vulnerable to match fixing than standard wagers on results, goals or broader player performance.
The intervention followed a wider market review, after which the regulator concluded that Holland Casino Online and Vbet were the only licensed operators in the Netherlands to have consistently offered the market. Both companies removed the bets after being contacted by the KSA and introduced additional controls to prevent them from reappearing. The regulator said that, given the speed of the response, no further enforcement action would be taken for now.
The move reflects tighter scrutiny of sportsbook product design in regulated European markets, where integrity concerns are increasingly extending beyond operator licensing and advertising into the structure of the betting offer itself.
The KSA’s sports betting integrity guidance lists own goals alongside other highly specific incidents, such as player injuries and certain motor racing events, as markets that are too easily manipulated to be permitted.
The action also comes at a time of broader pressure on the Dutch online gambling market, where regulators are attempting to reinforce channelisation and player protection while maintaining confidence in the licensed sector. In this case, the KSA’s message is straightforward: not every bet that can be priced should be allowed onto a regulated sportsbook.
