The Netherlands’ gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has issued a €1.2m fine to Techno Offshore for targeting Dutch players with two unlicensed sites.
The KSA said the company “did not take sufficient measures to keep Dutch players out” of its Simple Casino and No Limit Bet platforms.
There was no visible age check upon registration and options such as autoplay and turboplay were available, which the KSA has been cracking down on.
Michel Groothuizen, the chair of the KSA, said: “'Licensed providers in the Netherlands must adhere to all kinds of rules to protect players from gambling addiction. With illegal providers, we often see that no account is taken of the prevention of risky gaming behaviour, for example by not using age verification, enabling payments with crypto or a lack of gaming limits.
“We take tough action against these types of parties, because they attract players to illegal offerings and players are insufficiently protected there.”
Elsewhere, the KSA has intervened on Hotel Gaming Services, the operator of the Circus Gran Casino gaming arcades in the Netherlands, for breaching the advertising ban on role models.
The regulator said the company used professional athletes from a Limburg ice hockey team in a promotion for its Maastricht branch.
Since June 2022, the KSA has enforced regulations which prohibit gambling providers from using role models or celebrities to promote their services.
In the promotion in question, the ice hockey players were shown in their kit playing on a machine in the arcade. There was also a congratulatory message for the team on winning a tournament.
“Hotel Gaming Services has indicated that the legal standard was not sufficiently clear to it. Because gaming arcades offer risky games of chance, the role model ban applies to them in full. According to the KSA, it is important that all gaming arcades are aware of this,” the regulator said.
“The gaming arcade cooperated during the conversation and immediately removed the statements in question following the conversation.
“The Gaming Authority will check whether the statements continue to comply with the role model ban in the future.”
