The Stars Group has been fined €400,000 by Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit for offering customers the chance to play through its Pokerstars.eu website without a licence.
The KSA conducted an investigation into the website during the second half of 2018 and PokerStars was found to have targeted Dutch customers. Dutch payment method iDEAL was in use and it was found that a contact form was available in the Dutch language, while and two Dutch organisations for addiction care were mentioned. The Netherlands was not mentioned on a list of countries from which participation was not permitted.
The KSA also highlighted the fact that in the Netherlands, only Holland Casino is permitted to offer real-money poker games at one of its physical locations.
From 2021, the situation will change due to the Remote Gambling Act, which will offer licences for online gambling supervised by the KSA.
