Online casino operator Videoslots announced Wednesday that it would challenge the mammoth €9.9 million ($10.5 million) fine it was issued by the Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA).

Regulator vs Operator

The KSA slapped Videoslots with the record financial sanction for violation of the Dutch Gambling Act but the Malta-based iGaming operator stated that there was no violation of the gambling law, and accused the regulator of abusing the mystery shopping regime.

“Videoslots does not target but restrict the Netherlands, so the Dutch Gaming Act does not apply to its services,” commented Ulle Skottling, deputy chief executive officer of Videoslots, outlining that since not a single Dutch player was able to access the company’s website during the disputed period, there was no violation.

Videoslots was penalized after in April 2022 the KSA managed to gain unauthorized access to its website by pretending to be a German customer, then made a deposit and wagered a single bet worth €0.20 ($0.21).

“It is absurd that the KSA should fine us after gaining unauthorized access,” continued Skottling, highlighting that “it is simply not possible to protect fully against unauthorized access, and the KSA has no guidelines on what measures are sufficient.”

Unauthorized vs Illegal

The KSA attempted to register as a Dutch customer after becoming aware that its logo had been displayed on the operator’s website while it was preparing its application for a license in the Netherlands.

Videoslots claims that the KSA logo was mistakenly displayed for a short period of time and as soon as the company became aware of the mistake, it was immediately taken down from its website but the mistake has already attracted the regulator’s interest.

As it could not sign up as a Dutch consumer due to the effective measures Videoslots has put in place to prevent residents of countries in which the company was not licensed to operate from signing up such as the Netherlands, the KSA switched tactics, applied as a German customer and finally succeeded to gain access.

Objecting to the allegation and the record fine, Skottling pointed out that “there was no demonstrable damage and the interests of Dutch consumers were never compromised at any point,” claiming that the KSA has “calculated the fine based on several guesstimates” with “no basis” and “sense of proportionality.”

Videoslots acted as soon as they became aware of the unauthorized sign-up by implementing further measures that would prevent similar sign-ups in the future but the KSA decided to stick to its sanction-based practice and slap the record fine.

“Videoslots takes its legal and regulatory obligations extremely seriously, but we dispute the KSA’s actions and conclusions, which we believe are unlawful,” Skottling added, confident that the company would achieve “a positive outcome in this case.”