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Online gambling company Videoslots has said it will challenge a pending €9.9m Dutch fine, in what would be the Netherlands Gambling Authority’s largest ever penalty, as it accuses the regulator of “acting unlawfully”.
The Malta-based company announced the move on Thursday (March 2), as the authority, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), is expected to announce action against several companies, including Videoslots, later today.
However, Videoslots claims the KSA improperly deployed a “mystery shopper” in a deceptive fashion in an attempt to establish that Videoslots was offering online gambling to Dutch residents without a licence.
As it prepared for a licensing application, the KSA logo was mistakenly visible for a short time on Videoslots’ website before it was quickly removed, the company said in a statement.
When it noticed the mistake, the KSA tried to sign up as a Dutch customer, but failed, Videoslots said.
Then a KSA staff member signed on as a German player, made a deposit and bet 20 cents, the company said. Videoslots “implemented further measures to prevent this happening again”, the company said.
Deputy chief executive Ulle Skottling called the KSA’s fine “absurd” because “it is simply not possible to protect fully against unauthorised access, and the KSA has no guidelines on what measures are sufficient”.
“Videoslots does not target but restricts the Netherlands, so the Dutch Gaming Act does not apply to its services,” he said. “No Dutch players were able to access our site during the disputed period and there was no violation as a result.”
“There was no demonstrable damage, and the interests of Dutch consumers were never compromised at any point,” Skottling said, claiming the size of the fine was “based on several guesstimates”.
“We dispute the KSA’s actions and conclusions, which we believe are unlawful,” he said. “We are confident of a positive outcome in this case.”
On Thursday, a spokesperson for the KSA confirmed that Videoslots is among companies scheduled to be sanctioned today (March 3), but said it had nothing to add until the fine was announced.
