Ksa fines Winning Poker Network

(PRESS RELEASE) -- The Dutch Gaming Authority has imposed a fine of €1,275,000 on illegal provider Winning Poker Network (WPN). WPN allowed Dutch players to gamble without the necessary license, and that is prohibited.

Dutch players could go to the website americascardroom.eu to gamble illegally. The Ksa then informed WPN that it intends to impose a burden under penalty, after which it was no longer possible to play on the website. WPN owns several (in the Netherlands illegal) websites, including truepoker.eu. This website remained available to Dutch people, on which the Ksa still imposed a penalty of effort on WPN with the announcement to stop the offer on all its sites.

Michel Groothuizen: ‘A burden under penalty is an effective way to quickly get illegal offers from the air. Nevertheless, these types of parties should not think that they can easily get rid of it, so we also impose fines for the committed violation. We touch them where it really hurts, which is in the wallet.”

In addition to imposing a penalty payment, the Ksa can also impose sanctions for the period in which the illegal offer was available. That is the case here too. The fine imposed has been increased for so-called fine-increasing circumstances: practices that exacerbate the severity of the offense. For example, WPN charged extra costs to players if they had not logged in for a long time (inactivity costs) and she posed as a reliable party by fencing with a foreign license. This kind of consumer fraud is taking the Ksa high.