TLDR The Dutch gambling regulator KSA has fined EOD Code SRL a record €37 million for running 12 unlicensed online casinos. The sites included Instantcasino and Skyhills, and offered games to Dutch players without a licence. Several sites had no visible age checks and accepted cryptocurrency and other anonymous payments. The fine was based on an estimate of the company’s revenue from Dutch players. KSA estimated last year that more money goes to illegal gambling sites than licensed ones in the Netherlands.
The Dutch gambling regulator, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has fined a company €37 million for running a dozen unlicensed online casinos. It is the largest fine the regulator has ever issued.
The company, EOD Code SRL, says it is registered in Costa Rica. It offered casino games to players in the Netherlands without a Dutch licence, KSA said on Thursday.
Instantcasino and Skyhills were among the sites named by the regulator.
Inspectors Signed Up and Gambled on the Sites
KSA inspectors were able to register and gamble on the sites. The company had no measures in place to stop people in the Netherlands from using them.
Several of the sites had no visible age checks. They also accepted cryptocurrency and other anonymous payment methods.
This meant players could deposit money without clearly showing who they were.
The investigation started with Instantcasino. Inspectors later found 11 more sites run by the same company, bringing the total to 12.
The regulator based the size of the fine on an estimate of how much money the company made from Dutch players.
Licensed operators in the Netherlands must follow rules such as age checks and checking players against the national gambling exclusion register.
Illegal Gambling Market Remains Large
The Netherlands legalised online gambling in October 2021. The government argued at