On 10 March, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) revealed that Novatech Solutions made unlicensed gambling available to Dutch users through Qbet.com and 55Bet.com without a KSA license. Together with that, the regulatory body handed out a penalty of €1.795 million to Fortaprime for the illegal supply of its services through a wider group of brands. Both of these companies have previously faced regulatory action.
Why This Fine Matters
The noteworthy aspect of the Novatech case is that the final amount was still constrained by law. KSA said it used a turnover-based approach because normal penalties did not match the scale of revenue generated from the illegal offer. However, Dutch legislation limits fines at 10% of a company’s global turnover. According to Chairman Michel Groothuizen, without that cap, the fine on Novatech would have been over €100 million. That amount, he believes, would have been more proportionate to the violation.
That adds more policy content to the decision. What the regulator is saying is that even a record fine may not be enough to stop the operator, as it has already made large sums from the illegal market.
What Investigators Found
As revealed by the KSA, its staff were able to register, deposit, and participate in gambling at the investigated sites. There were no technical measures in place to prevent access from the Netherlands at the time of those checks. The KSA cited some aggravating circumstances as well:
- No visible age checks were implemented;
- Cryptocurrency and anonymous payment methods were available.
These factors, according to the KSA, could also increase the risk of money laundering.
Novatech had already been targeted by a penalty order in 2024. Then, KSA found that Dutch players could still access Qbet and 55Bet, both operated by Novatech. That earlier case had ended up being a penalty payment order.
A Wider Message to the Market
The KSA stated that its clampdown on illegal supply is not limited to fining companies. The authority also works with payment processors, hosting providers, banks, and large tech companies to disrupt illegal operators. In the case of Fortaprime, the regulator noted that the Dutch social media influencers helped promote illegal gambling brands. Thus, enforcement can extend beyond operators themselves.
The fine levied against Novatech may be large, but it also highlights the gap between illegal-market profits and available sanctions. In this regard, policymakers now have a very concrete benchmark for judging whether the current Dutch penalties are strong enough to deter major illegal operators.
