A familiar casino name can appear in a web address that sends visitors to a different gambling site. The Netherlands' Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) describes that deception in its 7 October 2026 announcement about cloned gambling websites.
Illegal providers copied licensed operators' websites and substituted .co.nl for .nl. Visitors to the copies were redirected to an illegal gambling website, the regulator said.
Ksa reported 26 recent removals, almost all copies of licensed websites. The CO.NL operator cooperated, and the sites went offline within a maximum of 48 hours after Ksa notified it. The notice gives no notification date.
A familiar name needs a separate check
The suffix itself does not establish illegality. Ksa describes .co.nl as an extension developed for Dutch business websites and offered by an independent operator. Its action concerns gambling providers that abused it.
A copied website can borrow recognition from a licensed business without belonging to it. Ksa's guidance for players tells people to check whether the app, website or physical casino they intend to use has a licence before gambling.
The official Kansspelwijzer lists providers permitted to offer gambling in the Netherlands. Users can search by name and refine the results. It checks Dutch permission; it does not promise a payout or authorisation in another country.
Our casino licence-register guide also examines the distinction between a company and the website using its identity. It concerns Curaçao and cannot replace a Dutch licence check.
Two counts, without a combined total
The same announcement reports 86 websites notified to CO.NL and then removed to date. Ksa says its investigation of .co.nl addresses also uncovered other illegal gambling sites. It does not explain the overlap with the recent group of 26, so the two counts cannot establish a combined total of distinct removals.
The 48-hour result describes the operator's response after notification in the recent case. The notice does not set a universal deadline for removing gambling websites. It neither identifies the copied operators nor reports amounts lost by players.
