Dutch gambling regulator to start fines against Freebitco.in operator

The KSA says FBC BV has been offering gambling in the Netherlands illegally.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued a warning to FBC BV. It says the operator of Freebitco.in will face weekly penalty fees if it does not block its offering in the Netherlands.

The KSA said the crypto casino operator had been offering online gambling in the Netherlands without a local licence. Claiming to have 54 million registered users internationally, Freebitco.in offers hi-lo jackpot and lottery games and the option to gamble with Bitcoin.

The Dutch regular said it conducted inspections of the site in January 2023 and again in April, June and November this year. On each occasion, it found the site to be accessible in the Netherlands and found that it was possible to open an account, make a deposit and gamble. It said it had spoken with lawyers for the site, but that they defended the site’s free-to-play offering.

FBC also claimed the site had introduced measures to block Dutch players, but it later said that it had not been able to implement the block because of “technical circumstances”. In September, the operator again pledged to introduce a block only to then ask for an extension due to differences of opinion within its own management.

After making another inspection in November, the KSA decided that the operator had been given sufficient time to comply. As such, it now faces penalties of €280,000 per week, up to a maximum of €840,000.

The KSA said: “The Netherlands has a regulated gambling market to better protect players. The KSA therefore takes tough action against illegal offering. With a penalty payment order, illegal offerings are often quickly stopped. Providers can also be fined for the period in which the illegal offering was available.”

Dutch gambling reforms

Meanwhile, Teun Struycken, the Dutch minister for legal protection, has said confirmed that the government plans to present a new gambling policy to the House of Representatives by March 2025. He made the comment in an answer to parliamentary questions from MP Michiel van Nispen about the amount of competition in the online gambling sector compared to the lack of competition in land-based gambling, where state-controlled Holland Casino maintains a monopoly.

Struycken said: “By March 2025, I will present my vision on the future development and objectives of gambling policy. In this, I will include considerations regarding competition in the market.”

Struycken has said that selling Holland Casino would cost the Netherlands in terms of lost income but he has not ruled out opening the Dutch land-based casino market to competition. However, Holland Casino has raised concerns about its current viability due to the rise in gambling tax in the Netherlands.