The Netherlands Gambling Authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has announced that it has fined Goldwin Limited €6,794,000 for operating in the Dutch market without a license.
According to the KSA announcement, an investigation revealed that customers in the Netherlands were able to open accounts and gamble online via the westcasino.com website. As the company does not hold the required license, this is in breach of the Netherlands Gambling Act.
In January 2023, the KSA warned Goldwin about its illegal activity. When the operator failed to respond to the warning, the KSA issued an order subject to penalty. As a result, the company received a periodic penalty of €239,000, up to a maximum of €717,000. A follow-up investigation revealed that the the company no longer allowed users from the Netherlands. However, the order subject to periodic penalty payments remained in force.
Despite the fact that the company withdrew its services, the KSA can still impose a fine based on the period before the services were pulled from the market. The KSA has decided to take up that option and the fine has now been imposed based on a percentage of the estimated turnover for Goldwin Limited from Dutch players.
René Jansen, chairperson of the KSA said:
‘We can often quickly put a stop to illegal supply with an order subject to a penalty. This does not mean that previously committed illegal activities disappear from view: they can still be punished.’
Today’s fine is the largest fine issued by the KSA so far in 2023. The previous record was the €4.4 million fine imposed on Gammix in March.
The latest order from the KSA comes on the same day the regulator fined MKC €900,000 for unlicensed gambling activity.
This brings the total fines for 2023 to more than €365,447,591 ($388,175,608) while the KSA’s fines make up almost €20.4 million ($21.7 million) of that figure.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.