Dutch regulator issues record €24m fine for offshore gambling

The KSA says the fine for offering unlicensed gambling to Dutch players should have exceeded €100m.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued a record fine of €24m for alleged repeated breaches of regulations. The KSA says Novatech allowed Dutch players to gamble on its websites Qbet.com and 55Bet.com, which do not have licences to offer gambling in the Netherlands.

The regulator has also issued a fine of €1.8m against Fortaprime SRL for alleged illegal gambling offerings at amonbet101.com, supraplay.com, amonbet.com, bilucky.com, gxspins.com, kaasino.com, hiddenjack.com and luckymax7.com. In both cases, the KSA says the parties had previously been issued with a penalty payment order.

On the investigated sites, KSA employees were able to create player accounts, make deposits and participate in unlicensed gambling. At that time, no technical measures were in place to prevent participation from the Netherlands.

The KSA said the websites exhibited several aggravating violations, such as the lack of visible age verification. Players also had the option of paying with cryptocurrency and anonymous payment methods, which the KSA sees as facilitating money laundering.

The KSA can choose a turnover-related fine when it believes the standard fines at its disposal are disproportionate to the revenue generated from the illegal offering. Because it estimates that both Fortaprime and Novatech have earned large sums from the bets of Dutch players, it saw a higher fine based on estimated revenue as appropriate.

The KSA noted that despite the size of the record fine, it believes it is hampered by current Dutch law in determining the amount of the fines, as the fines are disproportionate to the illegal profits these companies have made. There have been proposals to increase the regulator’s powers to take tougher action against unlicensed gambling in the Netherlands.

Michel Groothuizen, chairman of the board of the KSA, said: “We determine the fine based on the estimated turnover the illegal provider generated from players in the Netherlands. We are limited in this respect by the law, which stipulates that the fine may not exceed 10 per cent of global turnover.

“Novatech earned hundreds of millions from its illegal offering, primarily from Dutch players. A fine of €24m sounds impressive, but without the 10 per cent maximum, the fine would have exceeded €100m, an amount that would be more appropriate for this offence.

The KSA also warned that influencers who promoted the offerings could face consequences.

It said in a statement: “Action against illegal offers is not only taken through administrative fines, as mentioned here, but also through intensive collaboration with third parties, such as payment service providers, hosting companies, banks, and large tech companies. Moreover, Fortaprime’s offer was advertised by Dutch influencers. Influencers who advertise illegal companies can also be sanctioned.”