New Record Fine Imposed for Illegal Gambling Offer: €37 Million for EOD Code

The Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) has imposed a fine on EOD Code SRL for offering illegal gambling. The illegal party offers gambling games in the Netherlands without a license on various websites, including Instantcasino and Skyhills. EOD Code was previously subjected to an order subject to incremental penalty for this.

Unlicensed Platforms and Investigation Findings 

Ksa employees were able to gamble on various websites of the company without any measures being taken to prevent participation from the Netherlands. The initial investigation focused on Instantcasino, but further investigation revealed even more illegal gambling websites, namely skyhills.com, slotmonster.com, betiro.com, betblast.com, fastslots.com, goldenpanda.com, sambaslots.com, winningz.com, incognitocasino.com, foxygold.com, and luckypays.io.

Aggravating Offenses and Money Laundering Risks 

There were multiple aggravating offenses on the various websites, such as the lack of visible age verification. Visitors also had the opportunity to pay with cryptocurrency and anonymous payment methods, which facilitates money laundering.

Turnover-Based Calculation of the Record Fine

When imposing fines, the Ksa can choose a turnover-related amount when the standard fines are not proportional to the turnover generated from the illegal offering. Because the Ksa estimates that EOD Code earned more from the stakes of Dutch players, a higher fine based on turnover estimation was chosen. This fine for EOD Code is the highest fine the Ksa has imposed so far for an illegal offering.

Collaborative Enforcement Measures 

Taking action against illegal offerings is done not only with administrative fines, as mentioned here, but also through intensive cooperation with third parties, such as payment service providers, hosting parties, banks, and major tech companies.