KSA orders Winning Poker Network to stop targeting the Netherlands
The Dutch gambling regulator has issued a cease-and-desist order.
The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued a cease-and-desist order against Winning Poker Network, which it says is violating Dutch law by offering online gambling without a licence. It began investigating the operator in September.
The KSA says that it was told by Winning Poker Network that it would cease operating in the Netherlands. However, the regulator found that although the operator’s original site was now inaccessible in the Netherlands, Dutch players could still create an account on another site that it runs.
As a result, the KSA concluded that Winning Poker Network had not completely stopped illegally offering games of chance in the country. The cease-and-desist order will subject the operator to weekly penalty payments of €25,000 for every week that it continues to operate, up to a maximum of €75,000. The regulator added that it will continue to check the operator for any other breaches.
KSA fines marketing firm for illegal online gambling advertising
Last week, the KSA announced that it had fined the marketing company Red Ridge Marketing €675,000 for advertising illegal online gambling. It had previously handed the company an order to stop its advertising, but the regulator says the company continued.
The company was fined over the activity of four websites: Casinojager.com, Casinovergelijker.net, Internetcasino-online.com and Nederlandseonlinecasino.com. The sites advertised gambling operators that don’t hold Dutch licences. The KSA said that 296,408 people in the Netherlands visited Casinojager.com alone from May 1 2021 to May 1 2022.
The Dutch regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has also published its annual report for 2022, the first full year of regulated online gambling in the Netherlands. It reported that it issued €29m in fines for illegal gambling.
