Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch Gaming Authority (KSA), has imposed a fine of €1.125m on the operator Blue High House SA for offering online games of chance without the necessary licence in the Netherlands.
In a statement on its website, the KSA noted that Blue High House had previously been given a penalty payment order for the illegal offer.
The authority stated that following an investigation, it found that Dutch players could participate in online gambling on Blue High House’s betonline.ag website and that no measures had been taken to stop players from the Netherlands from playing.
Also, the KSA said that it found other failures by Blue High House, resulting in a larger fine beyond its basic fine of €600,000.
These included offering prohibited games, unauthorised payment methods and autoplay, in addition to a lack of playing limits and age verification, as well as allowing players to earn playing credits for registering their friends to the illegal offering.
Michel Groothuizen, Chair of the KSA, stated: “The Netherlands has a legal market to ensure that people who want to gamble can do so safely. With illegal providers, such as in this case Blue High House, we often see that risky gaming behaviour is not taken into account in any way.
“For example, players can create an account on this website without having to verify their age, which means that minors can also play. We also saw things like autoplay and turboplay, which can encourage excessive gaming, and there were no gaming limits. The KSA takes tough action against these types of illegal websites.”
According to the KSA, the offering on the website has now been stopped.
However, the authority will continue to monitor Blue High House closely to make sure that it doesn’t have any other illegal offerings in the Dutch market via other channels. New sanctions could follow if such an offering is found.