Dutch Gambling Authority Triples Fines for Unlicensed Operators

Dutch Gambling Authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has made another important step towards fully regulating the gaming market in the country by increasing the fines for unlicensed gambling activity.

KSA have already fined quite a few European gaming companies for advertising their services to residents of Netherlands, and the initial fine for offering online gambling without a valid license stood at €50,000.

KSA Triples Fines for Rogue Operators

Starting from 1 August, said penalty will be €150,000, whereas those companies that repeat similar offences could receive fines up to $810k.

The cost of the penalty will depend on a number of factors, including whether the gambling operators use dot-com domains, house a Dutch language site or if they air their advertisements via TV, radio or print media in an attempt to acquire new players from the Netherlands.

The quantity of websites and types of gambling promoted by a particular operator as well as maximum deposits, maximum prizes and deposit bonus value will also come into consideration.

Since KSA started imposing fines on unlicensed operators, a total of six penalties have been issued, although only three of those have been collected due to the fact that gaming companies are still waiting for the long-awaited Remote Gambling Bill to be passed.

All Slots Casino and EUCasino are some of the regulated gaming websites that are quite popular among Dutch gamers, but KSA clearly wants to ensure that rogue operators do not take advantage of the delay in the passing of said bill.

Country Awaits Remote Gambling Bill

UK operators Total E Soft Limited and XKL Limited have earned a combined penalty of €180k for running no fewer than 14 casino, poker and sports betting websites that targeted Dutch customers.

Total E Soft Limited have moved to suggest that they had blocked players from the Netherlands, while offering their services to Dutch ex-pats accessing their sites from other countries.

And while KSA have got to be commended for their efforts to protect Dutch gamers and ensure they can only play at regulated websites, much will depend on the Remote Gambling Bill as the country clearly needs one such regulation to restore order in the online gaming market.