Dutch gambling regulator hits another offshore operator

The Dutch Gambling Authority (KSA) has gone after another offshore operator as the watchdog continues to strengthen its mechanisms to counteract the unregulated gambling market.

The Kansspelautoriteit targeted Chestoption Sociedad de Responsibilidad Limitada, a Costa Rica-based operator that runs the Vave.com betting and gaming brand, as well as other domains. The regulator has handed down a €3,082,000 fine to the operator, following a penalty payment order over the same breaches. According to the KSA, the operator holds no recognizable license in the country and cannot therefore offer its services. The KSA took issue with the fact that the operator’s services, along with its available brands, were offered in both English and advertised in Dutch, which is the measure the regulator uses to identify whether an offshore website is available or inadvertently targeting Dutch customers. The KSA insisted that the operator took no action to, in fact, restrict such access from the country, subject to local regulatory action. The KSA has not hesitated to act against offshore operators, but the key issue that remains is enforcement. The regulator has limited recourse to actually enforce the fines, however. Offshore operators are usually beyond the legal recourse of the regulator, and international cooperation is limited when it comes to enforcing gaming penalties. In many instances, operators push back and argue that the fines are unfair and that the regulator has gone to extraordinary lengths to prove that Dutch customersmay connect to a given website, including the use of VPNs.

The regulator, for its part, maintains that since Dutch advertising materials and translations are available on a website, and further Dutch customers are allowed to register, this is already proof that an operator is breaching local gambling regulation. In March, the KSA handed down a €24.8m fine, and that came with the honest question of how likely the regulator was to collect. As Mike de Graaff, chief compliance officer at BetComply, commented at the time, the reality is that collecting administrative fines from offshore operators remains extremely challenging.