The Dutch gambling regulator KSA has issued its largest fine to date, €37 million, against EOD Code SRL for operating without a Netherlands licence. The sanction was handed down on Thursday following an investigation into the operator's activity on the Dutch market.
KSA found that EOD Code ran a network of more than ten gambling sites, among them Instantcasino, Skyhills, Slotmonster, Betiro, Betblast, Fastslots, Goldenpanda, Sambaslots, Winningz, Incognitocasino, Foxygold and Luckypays. Dutch residents could bet on these platforms without a local licence. Inspectors confirmed that wagers from the country were placed on several of the sites, which breaches the rules under which licensed operators must block Dutch players from illegal services.
What the regulator weighed
KSA cited several aggravating circumstances. Age verification on many of the sites was weak or unclear, undermining the fight against underage betting. The operator also accepted cryptocurrencies and other anonymous payment methods, which the regulator says raise money-laundering risks and complicate checks against consumer protection standards.
Under Dutch law KSA can impose fixed administrative fines or calculate a sanction from revenue when an operator's illegal turnover justifies a higher sum. In this case the regulator assessed substantial income from Dutch bettors, so the fine was tied to revenue. The €37 million figure is the largest KSA has ever levied for unauthorised gambling activity.
The underage issue remains sensitive for KSA. Amid debate over household debt, Meryam Sümer of the Christian Democratic party has called for raising the minimum age for online gambling from 18 to 24. In Enschede, she said, one in five young people carries debts, and she names gambling advertising as a frequent temptation. 'The main thing is to reduce the temptations,' she said, arguing for tighter regulation.
The fight against illegal gambling is running on another front too. Dutch research published this month found that popular generative AI assistants often point users to sites without a Dutch licence. All 10 tools tested, including ChatGPT, Claude and Meta AI, named an unlicensed operator by name or domain in at least one conversation. Eight produced such names in response to neutral or leading questions with no clear intent to research anything. Four tools, among them Mistral Le Chat, Google AI Mode, DeepSeek and Grok, named illegal sites after a single question.
For operators and affiliates the takeaway is plain: KSA keeps the Dutch market under dense supervision, and the size of a fine now tracks income from local players. That is reason enough to check how geoblocking and age verification are set up on any offer aimed at the Netherlands.
