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The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) has fined notorious offshore operator BetOnline €1.1m for illegally offering its services in the Dutch market.
The KSA issued a fine of €1.125m on Friday (November 22) to Blue High House SA, which the regulator said operates the betonline.ag website.
The operator’s gambling services were available from the Netherlands, including the ability to deposit from a Dutch bank account, according to investigators.
The penalty was almost double the basic €600,000 fine because of several aggravating factors, the KSA said. These included offering bonus payments for encouraging friends to sign up and hosting online casino games, which the regulator said carry a higher risk of addiction.
BetOnline is a stalwart of the offshore gambling scene, and having operated since the year 2000 it predates most regulated online gambling markets.
However, it has repeatedly emerged as a thorn in the side of regulators globally, including in the United States.
In 2020, the now-retired head of the New Jersey Division of Gambling Enforcement named BetOnline alongside Bovada as a key antagonist in the unregulated gambling space.
And in 2022, as the American Gaming Association wrote to the U.S. Justice Department to plead for help against the black market, BetOnline was again named among a small group of high-profile infringing operators.
According to the KSA’s investigation, Blue High House is based in Panama and is licensed by the country’s Gaming Control Board.
Investigators for the Dutch regulator say they were able to sign up for accounts using Dutch IP addresses and deposit on betonline.ag from bank accounts in the Netherlands.
The fact that the website was only available in English did not disqualify it from being considered to be “targeting” the Netherlands.
“English is not only an international language, but it is a fact of common knowledge that many Dutch nationals can speak, read and write English,” the KSA said in its enforcement report.
Blue High House can appeal the fine, but has so far not engaged with the regulator since the investigation of betonline.ag began in 2021, the KSA said.
“The Netherlands has a legal market to ensure that people who want to gamble can do so safely. With illegal providers, such as in this case Blue High House, we often see that risky gaming behaviour is not taken into account in any way,” said KSA chairman Michel Groothuizen.
“For example, players can create an account on this website without having to verify their age, which means that minors can also play. We also saw things like autoplay and turboplay, which can encourage excessive gaming, and there were no gaming limits. The KSA takes tough action against these types of illegal websites.”
