Videoslots disputes €10m fine and accuses Dutch regulator of acting unlawfully

Videoslots.com is to challenge the largest fine in the history of the Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) after accusing the Dutch regulator of abusing the mystery shopping regime.

In preparation for a Ksa application in April 2022 the regulator’s logo was mistakenly visible for a short period of time on Videoslots’ website before being quickly removed.

When the Ksa became aware of the mistake, it tried to sign up as a Dutch customer and failed because of the effective measures in place. The Ksa then gained unauthorised access by pretending to be a German customer, managing to make a deposit and a single bet of 20 cents.

As soon as Videoslots learned that a Ksa official had unlawfully accessed its site it implemented further measures to prevent this happening again.

The Ksa has now issued a fine of €9,874,000, which will be the largest sanction in its history, after claiming Videoslots violated the Dutch Gaming Act. Videoslots denies the allegation and has objected to the fine.

Ulle Skottling, Deputy CEO at Videoslots, said: “Videoslots does not target but restrict the Netherlands, so the Dutch Gaming Act does not apply to its services. No Dutch players were able to access our site during the disputed period and there was no violation as a result.

“It is absurd that the Ksa should fine us after gaining unauthorised access. It is simply not possible to protect fully against unauthorised access, and the Ksa has no guidelines on what measures are sufficient.

“Furthermore, there was no demonstrable damage, and the interests of Dutch consumers were never compromised at any point. The Ksa calculated the fine based on several guesstimates. There is no basis for it and all sense of proportionality is missing.

“Videoslots takes its legal and regulatory obligations extremely seriously, but we dispute the Ksa’s actions and conclusions, which we believe are unlawful. We are confident of a positive outcome in this case.”