Dutch gambling regulator issues €3.08m fine for offshore gambling
The KSA found that Costa Rica-based Chestoption Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada offered unlicensed gambling to Dutch players.
The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued a fine of €3.08m against Chestoption Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, a company based in Costa Rica. The KSA says Chestoption allowed Dutch players to gamble on its websites Vave.com, Vave-luck.com, and 67evav55.com, which do not have licences to offer gambling in the Netherlands.
The KSA said the websites exhibited several aggravating violations, such as the lack of visible age verification. Players also had the option of paying with cryptocurrency and anonymous payment methods, which the KSA sees as facilitating money laundering.
This is not the first time the regulator has acted against the company. By a decision of December 18, 2024, the regulator imposed a cease-and-desist order under penalty, which Chestoption failed to comply with, incurring €840,000 in penalties. As these went unpaid, the KSA has moved to recover them.
The KSA said: “Action against illegal offers is not only done with administrative fines, but also by intensively collaborating with third parties, such as payment service providers, hosting parties, banks and large tech companies.”
In March, the KSA issued a record fine of €24m for alleged repeated breaches of regulations against Novatech for allowing Dutch players to gamble on its websites Qbet.com and 55Bet.com, which do not have licences to offer gambling in the Netherlands.
