Starscream Limited has been ordered to pay a fine of €4.2 million ($4.9 million) by Dutch regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) for illegally offering online gambling in the country without a licence.
The fine equates to 6% of the operator’s turnover from Dutch activity, which was estimated at €70.5 million.
According to KSA, Dutch players were able to gamble via Starscream-owned Rantcasino.com, Allstarzcasino.com and Sugarcasino.com. Each website offered online slots, but Starscream was not permitted to accept players from the Netherlands across the three sites.
In details of its ruling, dated 16 December but only made public this week, the regulator said Starscream had failed to put in place measures to block access to Dutch players.
These included failing to block traffic from Dutch IP addresses. KSA also noted how players could create accounts using contact details in the Netherlands, deposit funds from Dutch bank accounts and use country-specific payments methods such as iDEAL.
Also of note was how the Netherlands was listed as a country option for customers while a box within the contact details section auto-filled with the Dutch phone code +31. On top of this, live chat customer service on Rantcasino.com was available with a Duch language option.
Under Dutch law, a website can be seen as in breach of regulations even if it is not specifically targeted at Dutch players. If a Dutch player can gamble on the website, this is grounds for regulatory action.
KSA slams ‘serious’ breaches by Starscream
While accessibility to Dutch players was reason enough for the regulator to take action, it also noted several aggravating factors that led to its final decision on Starscream.
Among its primary findings was a lack of visible age verification, meaning minors could have potentially gambled on the sites. KSA also raised concerns over autoplay options, which are banned in the Netherlands.
It also noted how the websites charged an “inactivity” fee for players who did not gamble for a certain period of time. In addition, it hit out at unfair withdrawal rules when players sought to take money out of their account. These included forcing players to wager more before their withdrawal could be processed and limits on how much they could take out.
“Due to the lack of a licence and oversight, no guarantee can be given for the safeguarding of Dutch gambling policy,” KSA said. “Starscream’s failure to comply with this is extremely serious.
“KSA classes the unlicensed and unregulated offering of online games of chance as very serious.”
Starscream ignored earlier warnings
The regulator also referenced a warning issued to Starscream earlier in the year. In April of 2025, Starscream was warned to cease all operations in the country or risk a penalty payment of up to €840,000.
KSA said Starscream failed to respond to and continued to offer online gambling illegally in the country. This led to the €840,000 being collected by KSA, although the Starscream sites remained active, leading the KSA to impose the further multi-million euro fine.
“KSA has a broad range of instruments at its disposal to tackle illegal providers,” KSA Chair Michel Groothuizen said. “Imposing an administrative fine is one of them.”
“Although collecting such fines presents challenges, particularly for parties outside the EU, with these fines we continue to send the message that we are cracking down on illegal offerings in the Netherlands.”
Starscream ignored an earlier warning from the regulator for unlicensed online gambling.