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The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) has issued its highest-ever fine, €19.7m, to a Malta-licensed company, Gammix, for offering gambling to Dutch residents without a licence.
The fine follows an earlier €4m fine against Gammix, the authority said today (February 29).
The company did not adequately verify the age of players, deposits could be anonymous, and its websites improperly allowed autoplay and turboplay casino games, the regulator said.
Websites were accessible from a Dutch IP address and officials were able to make deposits from a Dutch bank and checking account, KSA said.
Gammix websites include rantcasino.com, betoriginal.com, bluvegas.com, cashimashi.com, goslot.com, nordslot.com, vegadream.com and scatters.com, the regulator said.
In June 2022, the KSA ordered Gammix to stop letting players from the Netherlands gamble on its websites, and in March 2023, it announced a decision to seek a €4m fine.
According to the authority, Gammix objected to the collection of the first fine, but took no actions to avoid future penalties.
In its response to the authority, Malta-based Gammix said its websites did not target Dutch residents, and it claimed that the KSA had posed as a resident of another country to be able to gamble.
It also challenged the Dutch turnover estimates with which the authority based its fine calculations.
According to Dutch law, it is irrelevant whether a website primarily targets Dutch consumers, merely that players could “directly participate” in gambling online, the KSA wrote.
The option of “Netherlands” was available in several drop-down menus, and the Dutch area code +31 was found on websites, the regulator said.
The KSA said it used several sources to estimate the company’s Dutch turnover, as Gammix declined to supply financial information.
The regulator said it also could not determine whether minors were being screened from gambling, a “particularly objectionable and very serious” problem.
“Dutch players must be protected: that is why we are cracking down on illegal offers”, said KSA chair René Jansen.
“Illegal providers often pay little attention to the player and do not adhere to a duty of care”, he said in a statement. “We also see this with this provider: there was no clear age verification. That is extremely harmful. We will therefore continue to take sanctions, even if providers repeatedly make mistakes”.
Homepages for each of the Gammix operators listed by the KSA currently indicate that the companies are incorporated on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia and have seals of approval from the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. None list Malta as either a headquarters of licensing authority.
However, Gammix is still listed on the Maltese Gambling Authority's database of authorised companies and lists several of the websites named by the KSA as websites operated by the firm.
