The Dutch Gaming Authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has imposed a combined penalty fee of €294,000 ($315,000) on LCS Limited and Blue High House SA for failure to terminate their respective illegal operations on Dutch shores.
The first offender, LCS Limited, was imposed a penalty back in 2022 for providing illegal games of chance via the website, ‘sons-of-slots.com.’ After being ordered to cease and desist its operations effective immediately by the KSA, the provider was hit with a €2.1m fine.
A subsequent re-inspection in October 2023 found that LCS was offering illegal games of chance, again via the website ‘yugibet.com,' hence an additional fine of €165,000 is now being imposed.
In addition, Blue High House SA also received an order subject to penalty for providing illegal games of chance through the website ‘concreteline.ag.’ However, following the failure to cease these activities, the KSA has imposed a charge amounting to €129,000, with an additional fine remaining a realistic prospect.
René Jansen, KSA Chairman, spoke on the developments, stating: “An order subject to a penalty is more than a warning to an illegal provider. Illegal providers who do not take the right measures to ban Dutch players will be dealt with harshly by the KSA and will feel this where it affects them most, in their wallets.”
Last week, the KSA also published a revised responsible gaming policy – which sees the introduction of financial deposit limits and real-time monitoring capabilities. Online gambling in the nation was not legalised until the Autumn of 2021, however, has since taken off – generating €1.39bn gross gaming result (BSR) in 2023 – a yearly increase of 28%.
