€600,000 in Fines Issued by KSA over Illegal Gambling

The Dutch Gaming Authority issued €600,000 in fines after it found two websites offering illegal games of chance. Besides not having a license, according to the Regulator, the websites may have attracted children or young adults to games of chance which are illegal in the Netherlands.

Dutch Regulator Issues €600,000 in Fines

Some €600,000 in fines was imposed by the Dutch Gaming Authority, Kansspelautoriteit, over illegal games of chance offered via two websites. The websites www.futgalaxy.nl and nl.futgamer.com, belonging to the operator Virtual Coin Gaming were found to offer illegal online games of chance and may have targeted Dutch customers.

After the Kansspelautoriteit discovered this, a fine of €500,000 was imposed for the Curacao-licensed operator. Furthermore, the Gaming Authority has also fined a person involved in the illegal offering €100,000.

Currently, online gambling activities are illegal in the Netherlands. However, the country is expected to establish new online gambling regulations in March. Consequently, early in September, the online gambling market is expected to be launched under strict regulations.

Focusing on the KSA investigation, the Authority found that the websites offered games of chance available in the Dutch language. Furthermore, according to the KSA, the target market may have been the Netherlands since one website supported iDEAL which is a Dutch payment system, and had an “nl” (Netherlands) extension.

The Authority also pointed out that it found games similar to FIFA’s Ultimate Team loot boxes, which have been officially banned in the country. Since the games were similar in design featuring a FIFA theme, according to the KSA, they may have attracted children or young adults. Furthermore, the KSA revealed that actions against unlicensed operators that may target the Dutch market, such as the two websites, are treated with priority.