KSA issues penalties to Winning Poker Network and Goldwin Ltd
Winning Poker Network and Goldwin Ltd both received warnings by from KSA for operating without a Dutch licence. Goldwin did cease operations after this – however, Winning Poker Network did not.
As a result of the violations, Winning Poker Network must make periodic payments of €25,000 per week, up to a maximum of €75,000. Goldwin received a penalty of €239,000, with a maximum amount of €717,000. Goldwin will have to pay this penalty again if it offers its games to Dutch players in the future.
Both decisions handed down by KSA can be appealed.
“It must pay off for providers of games of chance to offer their games legally,” said René Jansen, KSA chairman. “That is only possible if we take the wind out of illegal supply. We are fully committed to stopping these practices.”
Violations
Winning Poker Network was found to operate Americascardroom.eu. When an investigation into the website took place, KSA said no preventative measures were in place to stop Dutch customers from accessing the website. Winning Poker Network was also found to operate Truepoker.eu.
During the investigation, it was found that the login details that had been created for Truepoker.eu did not work for Americascardroom.eu, meaning that a separate account had to be created in order to continue with the investigation.
On 28 November 2022, the regulator informed Winning Poker Network that it would pursue a penalty. The operator replied on 12 December to say that that Dutch customers will no longer be able to access Americascardroom.eu.
Upon investigating Westcasino.com, KSA found that it was operated by Goldwin, a company not licensed to offer gambling in the Netherlands.
In the period between 1 March 2022 and 1 February 2023, the site had 907,246 visits from the Netherlands.
When KSA informed Goldwin that it would pursue a penalty against it, Goldwin did not respond.