KSA issues €1.3m fine to poker operator over offering unlicensed gaming
Regulator highlights “aggravating circumstances” which led to Winning Poker Network being given an enhanced penalty
Netherlands regulator KSA has issued a €1.3m (£1.1m) fine to poker operator Winning Poker Network (WPN).
The operator was found to be offering Dutch players an opportunity to gamble illegally via the domain americascardroom.eu.
In September 2022, a KSA representative was able to register with the platform and deposit money without their age being verified, along with a lack of measures in place to stop Dutch players from signing up with the foreign domain.
The KSA then informed WPN of its intentions to issue the company with a penalty payment order, which is a sanction to end the violation and not permit players from the Netherlands to gamble on any websites run by the operator or be subject to a fine.
These included blackchippoker.eu and pokerking.com, which the KSA discovered were a part of WPN’s portfolio.
Following the KSA’s penalty payment warning, WPN-owned platform truepoker.eu remained available to players in the Netherlands, leading the regulator to confirm its decision and impose the penalty payment.
A further inspection of the website by the KSA in January 2023 once again found there to be no measures in place to prevent Dutch players from signing up to gamble, in addition to a lack of age verification.
The KSA announced it would increase the initial fine due to “aggravating circumstances” which exacerbated the seriousness of the offence.
This pertained to WPN charging players inactivity costs if they didn’t log into the platform for a long time.
WPN was also found to have “pretended to be a reliable party by brandishing a foreign licence” the network did not possess.
The KSA ruling said: “Given these 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 WPN is evading this is very serious.
“A company that offers online gambling in the Netherlands may expect it to study Dutch legislation and regulations and to act within the limits set therein. WPN, 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 Gaming Authority.”
KSA chair Michel Groothuizen added: “A penalty payment order is an effective way to quickly take illegal supply off the air. However, these types of parties should not think that they will get off easy with this, so we also impose fines for the violation committed.
“In doing so, we hit them where it really hurts, namely, in their wallets.”