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The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) has warned it will issue BlockDance with daily fines for offering illegal gambling, after it initially complied with an order to block Dutch players.
The KSA has told the operator it will be fined €280,000 a week, up to a maximum of €840,000, if it does not block Dutch players from its websites in the next four weeks.
BlockDance had initially been warned that its websites bc.game and bcgame.lu were illegally available in the Netherlands and had appeared to comply with an order to block Dutch customers.
However, on re-inspection by agents from the KSA, both websites were again found to be operating illegally.
The regulator said it was possible to create a player account, make deposits and gamble on the named websites.
As with previous cases, it is possible that BlockDance will later be issued with a separate fine relating to the period when the KSA says the company was offering illegal gambling.
In 2022, BlockDance was targeted by the Australian Communications and Media Authority over an apparently illegal gambling offering.
A letter sent to its Curaçao headquarters alleged that the company was offering gambling without a licence in Australia, once again via its bc.game website.
BlockDance has operated in Curaçao under the master licence of Curaçao eGaming (CEG), also known as Cyberluck Curaçao, one of four such companies on the island which controlled the country’s opaque licensing system.
CEG’s master licence has now expired, as the nation moves towards what it hopes will be more reputable gambling regulation.
BlockDance’s flagship website bc.game indicates that the operator is now a sub-licensee C.I.L Curaçao Interactive Licensing, whose master licence is the final of the four to expire on January 25, 2024.
From that date onwards, BlockDance, and all other operators wishing to remain in Curaçao, need to apply for a digital seal. These are serving as interim approvals until legislation is passed to reform the country’s gambling laws, although the new law has missed several deadlines and remains in limbo.
BC.Game, although it is unavailable in the UK, is the shirt-front sponsor of Premier League club Leicester City. It operates a feature-light version of its brand in the UK through a white label licence with TGP Europe of the Isle of Man.
Gambling sponsors on the fronts of Premier League clubs are set to be voluntarily banned from the start of the 2026/27 season.
