Dutch Regulator Fines Chestoption €3.08 Million for Illegal Gambling Operations

[Finestream]

Just want to share this news since I find it interesting, there is a casino that has its ANN thread in the forum and is even running a signature campaign actively, and it was included in the news.

So here is the news, I am talking about Vave.com as you can read.

But it is not really the site that I am concerned about, it is more about other casinos that are operating offshore and do not have a license in a certain country but still allow gamblers from that country to gamble. As per record, the country has fined them millions, so what would happen to other casinos that acquired a license from the same provider, as I believe they are running a similar operation.

https://focusgn.com/chestoption-fined-e3-08-million-for-illegal-gambling-offer-targeting-dutch-players

The KSA found that Costa Rica-based Chestoption Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada offered unlicensed gambling to Dutch players.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued a fine of €3.08m against Chestoption Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, a company based in Costa Rica. The KSA says Chestoption allowed Dutch players to gamble on its websites Vave.com, Vave-luck.com, and 67evav55.com, which do not have licences to offer gambling in the Netherlands.

And this is more alarming if it will be imposed on other companies.
That is a massive amount, the fact that it has risen that high maybe means the government has not really forced them to pay yet.

In March, the KSA issued a record fine of €24m for alleged repeated breaches of regulations against Novatech for allowing Dutch players to gamble on its websites Qbet.com and 55Bet.com, which do not have licences to offer gambling in the Netherlands.

[Charles-Tim]

You do not need to panic, a gambling site should also stay to the rules iyf the governments as they want their customers to stay to their own rules.

Do the site mentioned Netherlands among the countries that are restricted?

I think on all gambling sites terms of service that I have read, I always see Netherlands has a restricted country.

Example is Stake.com TOS 14.3 which mentioned Netherlands as a no go area:
14.3 Persons located in or reside in Afghanistan, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, North Korea, Ontario, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe (the "Prohibited Jurisdictions") are not permitted make use of the Service.

[Finestream]

You do not need to panic, a gambling site should also stay to the rules iyf the governments as they want their customers to stay to their own rules.

That is the problem, gambling sites have their own rules but they are not complying with the law, that is why they are being penalized.

Do the site mentioned Netherlands among the countries that are restricted?

I think on all gambling sites terms of service that I have read, I always see Netherlands has a restricted country.

Example is Stake.com TOS 14.3 which mentioned Netherlands as a no go area:
14.3 Persons located in or reside in Afghanistan, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Curaçao, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Liberia, Libya, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, North Korea, Ontario, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, South Sudan, Spain, Sudan, Syria, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe (the "Prohibited Jurisdictions") are not permitted make use of the Service.

I have not used the service yet, but even if they have the name of the country that is banned from accessing the casino and still they allow them to play, that means they still accommodated those gamblers. Isn’t this one of the issues we saw before in the scam accusation board, where there are gamblers complaining because their account got locked after winning big, because they were found out to be gambling from restricted countries?

So why not ban them from the start, it is one of the shady sides of casinos, they make their own rules then they just implement it whenever they want to avoid paying.

[Botnake]

So why not ban them from the start, it is one of the shady sides of casinos, they make their own rules then they just implement it whenever they want to avoid paying.

Because they believe that the country cannot enforce the law against them since they are not operating under their jurisdiction, that is how I see it.

If there are no offshore casinos that were closed because of that violation, then even if some countries say they will sue and penalize them but cannot compel the casinos to comply, it will become all talk and no action. That is the reason why penalties may be filed but still fail to be enforced, so it will just remain on paper.

[acroman08]

From what Charles-Tim shared, it looks like any casinos that acquired the same license as vave.com and allow gamblers from the Netherlands would probably face the same issue as vave.com.

Just want to share this news since I find it interesting, there is a casino that has its ANN thread in the forum and is even running a signature campaign actively, and it was included in the news.

Would you mind sharing the link to their signature campaign? I got curious, but I can't find their signature campaign. What I saw, though, is two review contests for vave.com.

[348Judah]

Government are not helping with the situation because the amount charged as fine is too much just for operating casino, what they don't know is that even if a casino is being regulated by them does not guarantee for safety that they won't scam or be trusted.

Everything that has to do with their regulation is only pointing to the fact that they wanted to tax them and make money from every operating platform, they use the threat of gambling being illegal and delight to make them consider being recognized by the regulatory body.

[Russlenat]

Would you mind sharing the link to their signature campaign? I got curious, but I can't find their signature campaign. What I saw, though, is two review contests for vave.com.

Their signature campaign is on and off, the reason you don’t see them is probably because you are not looking at the right board.

You can find their signature here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5584512.0

About other casinos, I am wondering why only these casinos are being penalized, I believe there are also other offshore casinos that accept users from this country, so what is this, are they only targeting few companies?

[mirakal]

From what Charles-Tim shared, it looks like any casinos that acquired the same license as vave.com and allow gamblers from the Netherlands would probably face the same issue as vave.com.

This could be similar to prediction markets getting sued by different countries, but the question is, can they really go after the operators of this company?

Because we are talking about a serious amount of money here, if they will fine them then they have to make sure they can collect it, or if they will sue, where would they sue the casino when it does not acquire a license and its presence is just online?

I am wondering if ICC or whatever type of court similar to that in the middle would help with this kind of issue.

[Sim_card]

Government are not helping with the situation because the amount charged as fine is too much just for operating casino, what they don't know is that even if a casino is being regulated by them does not guarantee for safety that they won't scam or be trusted.

Everything that has to do with their regulation is only pointing to the fact that they wanted to tax them and make money from every operating platform, they use the threat of gambling being illegal and delight to make them consider being recognized by the regulatory body.

You cannot cheat the government instead, it's the government that will cheat you. How do you expect to be operating without a government license in a region and you are busy making money from their citizens. I think, it's the casino fault and not the government because if you want to enjoy your business,you need to pass through the government and get a license to avoid any problem.

[JeffBrad12]

As far as i know Vave operator has ever charged by Dutch regulator before, and they were not paying the penalty. So i expect they to do the same. They won't pay the penalty, and still run their business like nothing happen.

Do the site mentioned Netherlands among the countries that are restricted?

I don't think they will be charged by Dutch regulator if they were mentioning Netherland to be one of restricted country.

[nimogsm]

Government are not helping with the situation because the amount charged as fine is too much just for operating casino, what they don't know is that even if a casino is being regulated by them does not guarantee for safety that they won't scam or be trusted.

Everything that has to do with their regulation is only pointing to the fact that they wanted to tax them and make money from every operating platform, they use the threat of gambling being illegal and delight to make them consider being recognized by the regulatory body.

You cannot cheat the government instead, it's the government that will cheat you. How do you expect to be operating without a government license in a region and you are busy making money from their citizens. I think, it's the casino fault and not the government because if you want to enjoy your business,you need to pass through the government and get a license to avoid any problem.

They most likely won't pay any fines. There have already been reports that this isn't the first warning the service has received. As far as I understand, they position themselves as an anonymous casino, and since the owners are not public, I think it's pointless to talk about their responsibility and whether they will pay a fine.

[Charles-Tim]

I don't think they will be charged by Dutch regulator if they were mentioning Netherland to be one of restricted country.

I do not know if the gambling site mentioned Netherlands to be a restricted company before I posted that, but I have later check it and see that Netherlands is part of the restricted countries according or the gambling site terms of service which is this but which I have seen on all gambling sites that I habe read their terms of service before.

3.6.      Players from Belarus, Curacao, Estonia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, United Kingdom , United States of America, Cyprus, France, Turkey, Netherlands are prohibited from playing real money wagering games at Vave. The Casino cannot guarantee successful processing of withdrawals or refunds if the player breaches this Restricted Countries policy. Also please note that players from Canada are not allowed to play NYX (NextGen) games.

So, the reason will not be that Netherlands is part of the restricted countries, it is because Dutch government do not permit the gambling site to offer gambling products and services to their people but the gambling site is offering the gambling products and services to their citizens. You can also see it in a quote on the topic.

The KSA found that Costa Rica-based Chestoption Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada offered unlicensed gambling to Dutch players.

[Mhizlove]

Government are not helping with the situation because the amount charged as fine is too much just for operating casino, what they don't know is that even if a casino is being regulated by them does not guarantee for safety that they won't scam or be trusted.

Everything that has to do with their regulation is only pointing to the fact that they wanted to tax them and make money from every operating platform, they use the threat of gambling being illegal and delight to make them consider being recognized by the regulatory body.

I will say that regulation is not a perfect guarantee of trust, but it can still provide some level of consumer protection and accountability. Without an oversight at all, users can find it even though it's harder to ask for help when problem comes or arises. However, if the fines and licensing fees becomes excessive, it can discourage little operators and may create the impressions that revenue generation has become the main focus over players protection. The main challenge here is to find the balance between fairness and regulation.

[xenomorfo]

Government are not helping with the situation because the amount charged as fine is too much just for operating casino, what they don't know is that even if a casino is being regulated by them does not guarantee for safety that they won't scam or be trusted.

Everything that has to do with their regulation is only pointing to the fact that they wanted to tax them and make money from every operating platform, they use the threat of gambling being illegal and delight to make them consider being recognized by the regulatory body.

The government never helps, if that's what you're wondering
he only knows how to issue fines without solving problems

you see in Italy, the government speculates a lot on video poker, bothers with tobacco and then doesn't care about this very serious form of addiction.

[Wakate]

This is not the first time gambling platforms have been sanctioned for providing gambling services in a country they were not registered.
The have no option that to pay the fine before they would be recognized as a registered company that will be providing gambling services to the Dutch people. We have many of these unregistered casinos everywhere operating without a license.

[Cryptomultiplier]

This is not the first time gambling platforms have been sanctioned for providing gambling services in a country they were not registered.
The have no option that to pay the fine before they would be recognized as a registered company that will be providing gambling services to the Dutch people. We have many of these unregistered casinos everywhere operating without a license.

One thing to note is that the Dutch government may have no right to seize the money of these unregistered casino businesses because they literally have no physical office, no bank account and have no assets with the EU, so it's basically just a losing battle.
Afterall, all these fines is just to ensure that they of which is the government, benefit from the huge revenue these illegal gambling sites produce and it would take a lot of formality for these illegal sites to become legal, whereas we know that citizens in that region are somewhat restricted from gambling on these platforms.

[DiMarxist]

This is a clear case of justice if you ask me because, I company can't be making money from a country that they has no license to operate. Which invariably means that, the company is not paying tax to the country but is operating from millions of miles away and siphoning the citizens of their money without actually giving back to the country. This type of things will serve as a deterant to other casinos which operates abroad this is a welcome development. Casinos should make sure that they try and up tain an operational license in every country that they wish to operate from.