Wednesday December 03,2014 : DUTCH REGULATOR FINES IMPERIAL E-CLUB
Hefty Euro 200 000 fine for flouting law
The Netherlands gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit has fined Imperial E-Club Limited for operating seven online casino and sports betting operations in the Dutch market.
The authority initially ran an investigation spanning from June 2012 to October 2013 on Imperial E-Club's website europacasino.com which led to the scrutiny of another six of the company's operations.
The seven online operations comprise europacasino.com, vegasred.com, titanpoker.com, casinotropez.com, titancasino.com, titanbet.com and casinobellini.com.
Following the issuance of a warning, Imperial removed the Dutch language option from europacasino but failed to take action on the other six websites.
Legal action brought against Imperial E-Club Limited by the Kansspelautoriteit led to Imperial asking a court in The Hague for an injunction preventing publication, however, this request was denied.
The Kansspelautoriteit warned of the risks of operating in the Netherlands market without a licence, saying the publication of Imperial E-Club's penalty will act as a deterrent to other operators illegally offering their services.
The Euro 200 000 penalty is the highest that the Kansspelautoriteit has imposed on an individual company due to the number of websites the company was operating in the market.