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Dutch gaming authority, the Kansspelautoriteit, has issued a €450,000 fine to the Gibraltar-based Onisac Limited, the company behind casino.com.

The penalty has been compiled in numerous parts. Two €200,000 fines have been issued to the operator after it was found to be offering online games of chance. The operator has previously been sanctioned by the gaming authority in 2013, making the current infraction the second case of breaching gaming legislation.

Dutch law states that online games of chance are only permitted if a licence is granted, however the current Betting and Gaming Act offers no possibility for this.

René Jansen, chairman of the KSA, commented: “This is a repeat offender. That makes the violation extra harmful and is reason to double the fine.”

The remaining €50,000 fine was incurred after the group was found to have charged unreasonable administration costs to inactive players. Players had funds deducted from their accounts in the form of “administration fees” after they had been inactive for a period of 180 days.

“The KSA assesses this as an unreasonable disadvantage for consumers,” as noted in the ruling. Since the fine had been issued, casino.com has now been taken offline for Dutch users.