The first hearings in a civil lawsuit filed by the Dutch state lottery, Nederlandse Loterij (NLO), against the trust office Downtown E-commerce Company B.V. (DECC) took place in The Hague. The lawsuit alleges that DECC acted as an intermediary for illegal iGaming operators.
According to NLO, DECC was involved in the registration of the legal entity that owned the online casino Lalabet (later rebranded as Chachabet) in July 2021, just months before the regulated market in the Netherlands opened. They claim DECC remained the local representative for the operator.
NLO is demanding the closure of the website and the disclosure of the ultimate beneficial owners (UBO), as reported by CasinoNieuws.
In court, DECC stated that they only performed postal and administrative functions for $2,500 a year and became aware of the operator's illegality only after receiving a letter from the Dutch gambling regulator, KSA. However, NLO pointed out that DECC also acted as the managing company for Novatech Solutions N.V. (Qbet), which NLO claims is one of the largest illegal operators in the Netherlands, previously fined a record €24.85 million by KSA.
DECC expressed willingness to disclose UBO data but cited a ban from the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The court's decision is expected on May 20, 2026.