Netherlands’ “terrifying” new online gambling penalties

Online gambling operators serving Dutch customers without Dutch permission will face “terrifying” new financial penalties as gaming regulators prep for the country’s new liberalized online market.

On Wednesday, the Netherlands’ Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) regulatory body announced that it was increasing the ‘starting’ financial penalty for unauthorized online gambling from its current €150k to €200k. The change will take effect on Friday, March 1.

Kansspelautoriteit says the new €200k starting point will be adjusted upward or downward depending on how flagrantly operators choose to violate its rules. Among the criteria influencing this variance are the number of websites deemed to be breaking the law, the number of illegal online games on offer and the types of promotional enticements used to lure Dutch punters down the road to (allegedly) hell.

For example, the KSA has established a €75k increase in the penalty for each of the following criteria: offering live betting, claiming to be operating legally when you’re not, and imposing fees on temporarily inactive customer accounts. The KSA singled out these three criteria as items with which the regulator is “repeatedly confronted.”