Sheriff Gaming programmer says slots were configured to only pay out to owners’ family and friends

Defunct online gambling technology provider Sheriff Gaming configured its slots so that only friends and family members of the site’s owners could win large jackpots, according to testimony in a Netherlands court case.

Last week, the Court Zeeland West Brabant released an Aug. 20 ruling on tax evasion charges leveled against the owners of the bankrupt Sheriff Gaming and its parent company Bubble Group. The ruling redacts all company and individual names, but the three principals – Stijn Flapper and brothers Maurice and Michel Gregoire – are well known to anyone who has been following this story over the past two years.

The ruling says Sheriff failed to pay over €13.5m in taxes on €46.7m in online gambling revenue generated by Bubble Group sites. The revenue was earned between 2008 and May 2013, when Dutch prosecutors slapped the company’s owners with illegal gambling, money laundering and drug trafficking charges.

Using information seized from servers based in Sweden, Dutch authorities determined that over 90% of customers transacting with Bubble Group sites were based in the Netherlands. The country is in the process of launching a regulated online gambling market and the local gaming regulator is one of the most enthusiastic when it comes to enforcement actions against unauthorized operators.