GGL slaps Red Rhino with €50,000 fine for illegal gambling offer
German regulator punishes Malta-based operator for failing to take down .com website despite .de site being shut down
Germany’s gambling regulator, Gemeinsame Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), has fined Red Rhino €50,000 (£42,879) for continuing to offer illegal gaming.
Red Rhino had previously been handed a prohibition order and had taken down the gambling offers on Germany-facing website platincasino.de, but the .com website is still active, leading to the punishment.
The .de website can still be accessed but it is unusable to consumers once they log in or register.
The GGL also fined an unnamed payment service provider that acted in connection with the operator.
GGL board member Benjamin Schwanke said the punishments being dished out by the regulator are working.
Schwanke said: “The GGL’s measures are having an impact and we are seeing an increasing pushback on existing unauthorised online gambling offers.”
Fellow GGL board member Ronald Benter added that the Red Rhino fine is part of the continued channelisation efforts to legal gambling.
Benter added: “This goes hand in hand with channelling to legal offers. Consumers should make sure that they only use legal online gambling offers, as the strict legal player protection measures are supervised by the GGL.”