The , the Dutch Gambling Authority, has announced a €1.3 million fine on the Winning Poker Network (WPN) for operating without a licence in the Netherlands. The decision comes following an internal investigation which revealed Dutch players could access(ACR) website and place bets, despite the provider not having the necessary licences.

The KSA said it initially flagged WPN in September 2022 for activities on both the ACR website and . It found that ACR was accessible to Dutch players in the Netherlands despite the operator not holding a licence.

The KSA also observed that the ACR site featured several other websites accessible to players, including TruePoker.eu (TP), BlackChipPoker.eu (BCP), and PokerKing.com (PK), all of which are part of WPN.

Operating without a licence

Online poker is legal in the Netherlands through licensed operators, however the Netherlands bans unlicensed online gaming companies from targeting local players or encouraging them to participate. Violators of these rules often face substantial financial penalties. After understanding that the operator was functioning operated without the necessary permit, the KSA reached out to WPN’s owners, warning them that they risk a penalty.

Later in November 2022, the regulator followed up this initial investigation and discovered the site was still accessible to Dutch players. However, a subsequent probe in January 2023 confirmed that the site was no longer active in the Netherlands.

During the same January investigation, KSA officers examined other sites listed on ACR, focusing on TruePoker.eu (TP). They found that TP was accessible in the Netherlands, offering online poker, sports betting and unauthorised casino games without a licence.

Another follow-up probe in February 2023 revealed that the BlackChipPoker.eu (BCP) and PokerKing.com (PK) sites were also active in the Netherlands, offering online poker and casino-based games of chance.

In response, when the KSA found that WPN failed to pull out from the market, it issued a penalty payment notice to WPN in March 2023. Despite this, the penalty was not paid, and violations continued into April 2023.

Extra penalties imposed

Due to the non-payment of penalties, KSA has now landed on €1,275,000 ($1.31 million) on WPN for failing to comply with earlier warnings. KSA said the fine was increased from the standard €600,000 for this type of offence due to “aggravating circumstance” for the case; namely repeat offending after several warnings.

KSA Chair Michel Groothuizen said, “An order subject to a penalty is an effective way to get illegal offers off the air, often quickly. However, these kinds of parties should not think that they can get off easy with this, so we also impose fines for the violation committed. This will hit them where it really hurts, namely in the wallet.”

WPN also committed several other violations, such as charging inactivity costs, allowing autoplay, lack of age verification and “pretending to be a reliable party by fencing with a foreign license”.

saying, “The imposed fine was increased due to so-called aggravating circumstances: practices that aggravate the seriousness of the offence. For example, WPN charged players extra costs if they had not logged in for a long time (inactivity costs) and it pretended to be a reliable party by brandishing a foreign licence. The Ksa takes this type of consumer fraud very seriously.”

Future regulatory efforts

Earlier this year, KSA also released its , which aims to strengthen oversight in major areas which includes – investigating how underage players access gambling sites and the marketing strategies used to attract them. As per the report, the KSA will focus on four key pillars this year: underage gambling, combating the illegal supply of gambling, advertisements and the supervision of its duty of care.

To start, the KSA will examine how young adults are introduced to gambling and how they can still create accounts on licensed sites. It will review the registration processes of different providers to check if simple identity fraud allows access to online platforms.

The KSA also announced that its duty of care investigations will expand to include land-based gaming halls and casinos later this year.

Beginning this year, the regulator also revealed a new general fines policy aimed at improving enforcement of gambling regulations. The new policy, effective from January 1, introduces stricter guidelines for imposing penalties and applies to all entities under the KSA’s supervision.

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