body in charge of gambling regulation in the Netherlands has announced the introduction of a more hard line stance towards illegal gambling operators.

Up to now, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has been issuing letters to gambling sites it deemed to be in breach of it regulations.

From January 2017, the KSA states that any sites found to be doing business in breach of its regulations will be “directly eligible for enforcement action”, with heavy fines now the anticipated means of recourse should a gambling site violate any measures the KSA has put in place.

Such a fine can could be as high as €820,000 for the most serious offenders, or equivalent to the value of 10% of sales to Dutch punters.

The KSA feels that it has been sufficiently active in the gaming sector that its regulatory provisions should now be evident to sites offering services to Dutch customers, deeming letters a now redundant measure for the enforcement of these provisions.

The Dutch parliament is slowly edging towards the passage of its long awaited Remote Gambling Bill.

It passed the lower house back in early July, with the bill still to face a Senate vote before becoming law.