Malta-based LeoVegas and it’s Royal Panda Ltd subsidiary have been fined for allowing Dutch players to place bets without regulatory permission.The Netherlands Kannspelautoriteit (KSA), served penalties of 350K to LeoVegas and 400k to Royal Panda over dealings with players between August 2018 and January 2019.Customers with Dutch ip addresses were able to place bets and transactions being processed through Dutch payment method iDeal.
Delayed Dutch Entry
The penalties have delayed entry in to the Dutch regulated market thought to be launching January 2021. The Government has called for a two-year ‘cooling off’ period for ‘cowboy operators’ who actively served Dutch customers despite being warned off.It was reported last week, Swedish Regulator Spelinspektionen, had issued a two year license to LeoVegas instead of the usual five year term after UKGC fined the company £600k for a variety of responsible gambling and social responsibility oversights. A Swedish Administrative Court over turned the decision with a view the UKGC admissions alone were not enough to justify a shorter license term.Whether this new evidence will tar LeoVegas’ brush further is yet to be seen, with the Spelinspektionen undecided if they are to appeal the court ruling, this further evidence could sway their decision.