On Monday, Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch gambling regulator, announced that a subsidiary of The Stars Group was fined €400,000. The fine was issued to TSG Interactive Gaming Europe Limited for offering online poker gaming to Dutch customers via a PokerStars website.
An investigation was launched by the regulator, covering the second half of 2018 via the European website. It was discovered that the poker site allowed players from the Netherlands to take part, even though the brand did not have the authorization to provide such gaming options.
Along with the player issue, the regulator found that Dutch gamers were allowed to move funds with iDEAL, which is a local online payment method popular in the Netherlands. PokerStars reportedly had a contact form at the site in Dutch and two organizations in the country that offer gambling behavior assistance were also mentioned on the site.
PokerStars did not have the Netherlands as a restricted area, so the regulator took action. The fine against PokerStars is just one of several that have taken place as of late as Kansspelautoriteit work to charge companies who do not have licensing in the Netherlands.
The regulator is working hard to ensure that unregulated gaming is stopped in the country. Based on current gambling laws in the country, international operators are not allowed to offer services without licensing specifically provided by the regulator. However, the aw makes it impossible for the regulator to provide licensing to operators who are interested in gaining approval.
In early 2021, the issue will be resolved as a new gambling law will take effect. The new law will open the local market to international gaming companies. However, the new law will penalize those who targeted customers in the region when they were not authorized to offer services. Only companies that have been void of the region for two years will be provided with licensing.
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