Mr Green Fined For Unlicensed Services By Dutch Gaming Regulator

Mr Green Casino is a popular online casino with players especially in Europe as the brand offers a great selection of online casino games from leading providers such as NetEnt, Betsoft and IGT. Players also get to enjoy sports betting services, live casino games and special games like Bingo and Keno.

Mr Green offers its online gaming services in a number of languages including Dutch but does not have a license to operate in the Netherlands. The brand recently announced that Dutch gaming operator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has imposed a €312,500 on the operator for offering online gaming services without having a registered license.

KSA has regulations in place that requires unlicensed gaming operators to block ISP’s of Dutch players, something which Mr Green failed to do. The gaming regulator also alleged that Mr Green was deliberately flouting these rules as the company had customized its offering in the Dutch language in order to target the iGaming market in the Netherlands.

KSA also pointed out that Mr Green offered Dutch players the option to make deposits and withdrawals with the iDeal payment system – the most popular payment system in the Netherlands.

Mr Green Refutes Claims

Mr Green operates a number of gaming sites such as BingoSjov.dk, 11.lv, BingoSlottet.dk and WinningRoom.com which are very popular with EU players. The company was hit with the fine on July 17 but filed an appeal to get the fine revoked on the basis that the gaming law in the Netherlands wasn’t very clear and that its offerings in Dutch was catered to expats and not to the gaming market in the Netherlands.

Mr Green also stated that trying to block individual ISP’s was a very difficult process and wanted the decision overturned as paying the fine would put the company on the KSA’s blacklist and hurt the company’s chances of obtaining an iGaming license once new gaming regulations are put in place. However, a court ruled in favour of the KSA and ordered Mr Green to cough up the fine.

This sends a strong message to offshore gaming operators targeting the Dutch market. PokerStars already took note of the warning and had announced at the start of September that it was dropping iDeal from its list of banking methods. Offshore gaming operators who are interested to apply in the future for a legal iGaming license in the Netherlands will need to adopt a cautious approach or risk being blacklisted by KSA.