Dutch authorities raises penalties

Dutch gambling authority Kansspelauthoriteit has advised of a rise in fines levied towards illegal operators as of August 1, 2015.

In conjunction, the authority published a ‘fining policy rules document’ to ensure transparency in how the fines are calculated.

The minimum fine amount for the provision of illegal gambling in the Dutch market is set at Euro 150 000, up from Euro 100 000, and is dependent on the volume of supply and other factors which include the amount of the maximum prize on offer, the number of websites offered by the service provider, the number of games available, the amount of the welcome bonus and the amount of the initial deposit when registering an account.

Online gambling operations are considered to be illegal should they offer the Dutch language and/or are advertised in the Dutch market, the authority said, regardless of whether they operate from a dot com, dot nl or any other domain.

Fines will be individually calculated on a case-by-case basis starting from the Euro 100 000 base.

The full text (in Dutch) can be accessed here: http://www.kansspelautoriteit.nl/nieuws/alle-nieuwsberichten/2015/juli/boetebedragen/