Blue High House hit with €1m penalty over KSA breaches

Blue High House has been issued a €1.1m fine by the Dutch gambling authority Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) over the provision of unlicensed online games. 

The company has been targeting the Netherlands with its illegal operations through the domain betonline.ag, with no restrictions in place to prevent local players from participating in the offering.

This was only one of the several other breaches that the KSA constituted on further inspection, leading up to the fine’s increase from the initial €600k. 

The regulator notified the public that the website has now been taken down, but that it is also keeping a close eye on the company to prevent future breaches through other means – in which case new sanctions will follow. 

Michel Groothuizen, Chairman of the KSA Board, said: “The Netherlands has a legal market to ensure that people who want to gamble can do so safely. With illegal providers, such as Blue High House in this case, we often see that risky gaming behaviour is not taken into account in any way.

“For example, players can create an account on this website without having to verify their age, which also allows minors to play. We also saw things like autoplay and turboplay, which can encourage excessive play, and there were no play limits. The KSA is staking up against these types of illegal websites.”