KSA slaps British Virgin Islands operator with €1.2m fine for targeting Dutch market
Dutch regulator sanctions Techno Offshore after investigators were able to make a deposit to both simplecasino.com and nolimitbet.com despite firm not holding a licence
The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) has issued Techno Offshore Limited a €1.2m (£1m) fine for targeting the Dutch market without the necessary licence.
The regulator carried out investigations into two websites owned by the British Virgin Islands-based operator, in the shape of simplecasino.com and nolimitbet.com.
During the investigations, which took place in April 2024, the KSA found both websites were accessible from a Dutch IP address, and inspectors were able to create an account and deposit €20.
For simplecasino.com, specifically, the payment instructions were partially written in Dutch.
When going through the registration process, investigators also found no sufficient means of age verification on either website.
Likewise, the customer service terms and conditions were initially written in English before switching to Dutch further down the page.
Furthermore, neither website had the Netherlands listed as an excluded country in their terms and conditions.
The KSA conducted a follow up investigation in June 2024 and once again found that “no technical measures were taken to prevent participants from the Netherlands from accessing games of chance”.
In July, the regulator sent Techno Offshore a cease-and-desist letter in addition to issuing a fine.
Following on, in February 2025, the KSA sent another letter to Techno Offshore, offering the company a chance to present an oral or written opinion regarding the report and subsequent sanction.
According to the regulator, the operator ignored the letter and did not submit an oral or written opinion.
The seven-figure fine was selected as the KSA also noted the operator allowed cryptocurrency payments, offered autoplay features and charged inactivity costs to customers in a breach of the country’s gambling regulations.
A KSA statement read: “Given the risks in the areas of fair play, addiction and various forms of crime, legal gambling is strictly regulated.
“Due to the lack of a Dutch licence for remote gambling and the possibility of supervision thereof, no guarantee can be given for the safeguarding of the Dutch gambling policy. The fact that Techno Offshore is evading this is very serious.
“A company that offers online gambling in the Netherlands is expected to familiarise itself with Dutch legislation and regulations and to act within the limits set therein.
“Techno Offshore, as the operator of the website, could and should reasonably have been aware of Dutch legislation in the field of online gambling and of enforcement by the Gambling Authority.”
KSA chair Michel Groothuizen added: “Licensed providers in the Netherlands must adhere to all kinds of rules to protect players from gambling addiction.
“With illegal providers, we often see that no account is taken of the prevention of risky gaming behaviour, for example by not using age verification, enabling payments with crypto or a lack of gaming limits.
“We take tough action against these types of parties because they attract players to illegal offerings and players are insufficiently protected there.”
Earlier this week, the KSA disclosed that it has collaborated with both Android and Apple to help remove 20 illegal gambling apps from both companies’ app stores since the start of the year.