Blue High House Hit with €1.13 Million Fine for Breaching Dutch Gambling Laws

Breach of Dutch Gambling Laws

The KSA’s investigation revealed that Blue High House, through its website betonline.ag, allowed Dutch players to participate in gambling activities without the required permit. This operation blatantly violated Dutch law, which mandates strict licensing requirements to ensure consumer protection and fair play.

Aggravating Factors Behind the Fine

While the baseline fine for such violations is €600,000, Blue High House faced an increased penalty due to multiple aggravating factors. These included:

• The absence of age verification mechanisms, enabling minors to gamble.
• Features such as autoplay and turboplay, which encourage excessive gaming habits.
• A lack of responsible gaming tools, such as player-imposed limits.
  These breaches raised significant concerns about the safety and welfare of players, prompting the KSA to impose the higher fine.

Blue High House has since ceased its illegal gambling offerings. However, the KSA has warned that it will remain vigilant to ensure the company does not attempt to re-enter the market through other avenues. Any future violations would result in further sanctions.

KSA’s Position on Consumer Protection

Michel Groothuizen, Chairman of the KSA board, underscored the importance of maintaining a regulated market to protect Dutch consumers. He stated: “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, 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 means that minors can also play. We also saw things like autoplay and turboplay, which can encourage excessive gaming, and there were no gaming limits. The KSA takes tough action against these types of illegal websites.”