The Netherlands' gambling regulator, de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has issued a cease-and-desist order and notice of possible assessment of fines against the Winning Poker Network over the accessibility of WPN sites to Dutch players.
The latest warning resumes a battle that began in September 2022 when KSA staffers discovered that Dutch players could play on americascardrooom.eu, despite not being licensed to provide services to gamblers physically located in the Netherlands. In October of 2021, the KSA began to enforce one of the strictest regulatory regimes in Europe, and it has launched investigations into and fined numerous online operators.
As part of its initial investigation, the KSA demanded that WPN block access to Americas Cardroom for all Dutch residents, and WPN strictly complied with that demand. On January 10, 2023, a detailed KSA report affirms that americascardroom.eu was indeed blocked Netherlands-wide as commanded. At the same time and one week later, though, the KSA discovered that Dutch gamblers could still create accounts on a second WPN skin, truepoker.eu.
The report detailed how the KSA investigator was then able to deposit $9.99 on True Poker, $2 of which was then wagered on a hand of Three Card Poker. The KSA report stated that WPN's complete suite of games was accessible via the True Poker hookup.
The KSA's announcement of the cease-and-desist order earlier today is thus intended to extend the blocking to all of WPN's online offerings to the Netherlands. The C&D states that if WPN continues to allow Dutch players to access its services via True Poker, it will be subject to a fine of €25,000 per week, up to a maximum of €75,000.
