BlockDance BV has received a payment penalty from The Dutch Gaming Authority (KSA) for offering unlicensed gambling services to Dutch residents. If the company fails to block access to these websites, it will face a hefty financial penalty that could easily top £700,000. 

The KSA found that BlockDance BV had knowingly been allowing customers to place bets on websites that had not been approved or registered with the necessary permits. While there is evidence that the company initially attempted to block Dutch customers from these websites after being contacted by the KSA, access was restored shortly after.

In Dutch law, gambling providers are required to prove to customers that their websites are legitimate – something that BlockDance BV failed to do.

Huge Fines on the Horizon

As a result of its failure to comply with the initial warning, BlockDance has been given a maximum of four weeks to cease all illegal gambling operations, after which it will be required to pay a hefty financial penalty of £235,000 (€280,000) per week, up to a maximum fine of £700,000 (€840,000).

The KSA expects BlockDance BV to halt all of its illegal operations now that a financial penalty has been issued, as most providers usually do. They have also made it clear that providers can face further fines for the period in which the illegal offer was available to Dutch customers. In other words, there may still be more financial penalties to come. 

BlockDance BV is not the first major Dutch gambling operator to be on the receiving end of such a penalty. Since its establishment in 2012, the KSA has closely monitored and regulated all forms of gambling in the Netherlands, issuing a number of fines in order to maintain the integrity of the market. With that being said, the fact that BlockDance BV was able to offer illegal services for such a long period of time shows that there is still a lot of work to be done. 

Calls for Tougher Black Market Monitoring in the Netherlands

Following the BlockDance BV penalty, as well as a number of additional online gambling controversies, Dutch players, as well as Dutch industry trade bodies, have called for tougher monitoring of the gambling services available on the black market. 

Data shows that more and more Dutch players are spending money on illegal sites. While the KSA states that the current Dutch online gambling channelisations is at 95%, further research indicates that this rate is actually closer to 87%.  

The Netherlands Online Gambling Association (NOGA) and the Licensed Dutch Online Gambling Providers (VNLOK) are two of the corporations urging the KSA to impose tougher monitoring.