The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) recently issued a record €24.8m fine to Novatech Solutions after finding Dutch players were able to create accounts and deposit funds despite the operator holding no local licence.
The regulator was clear in its findings. No effective measures were in place to block access from the Netherlands, while several aggravating factors were identified. These included the absence of visible age verification and the availability of cryptocurrency and anonymous payment methods, increasing the risk of money laundering.
KSA chair Michel Groothuizen was explicit that even this record penalty did not go far enough. Under current law, fines are capped at 10% of global turnover. In this case, he noted, the operator had generated hundreds of millions of euros, primarily from Dutch players, meaning a more proportionate penalty could have exceeded €100m.
But while on paper the fine looks like a decisive escalation, in practice, the KSA is unlikely to ever see a single euro.
The reality is that collecting administrative fines from offshore operators remains extremely challenging, particularly when the operator has no assets within the Netherlands or the European Union.
In this case, Novatech previously held a licence in Curaçao but has since dissolved its registration with the local Chamber of Commerce, further complicating any recovery efforts.
This is not a new issue. The Netherlands has previously applied political pressure on Curaçao to tighten oversight of licence holders targeting Dutch players.
But offshore operators are increasingly migrating towards even lighter-touch jurisdictions such as Anjouan, where regulatory scrutiny is minimal and enforcement cooperation is limited. This further weakens the effectiveness of large financial penalties as a deterrent.
There have been attempts at a broader legal solution. The Court of Justice of the European Union has indicated that insolvency proceedings could, in theory, allow EU states to freeze the bank accounts of non-European licensed operators.
But for now, that remains more theoretical than practical. This is why record-breaking fines, while headline-grabbing, rarely translate into meaningful enforcement.
Widen the net
The KSA appears to recognise this. Its 2026 regulatory agenda made clear that enforcement will increasingly extend beyond operators to the wider ecosystem that enables them.
Payment providers, hosting companies, banks and large technology platforms are all coming under closer scrutiny. The objective is to cut off unlicensed operators at source, rather than allowing them to operate freely until enforcement action is taken after the fact.
Crucially, this expanded focus also includes B2B suppliers.
We are already seeing this play out elsewhere in Europe. The Swedish Gambling Authority (SGA) issued warnings and fines to three studios last year after their games were found on unlicensed websites. The financial penalties themselves were relatively modest, but it does suggest a new strategic approach.
Regulators are specifying it is no longer sufficient for studios to point to aggregator partners and claim they didn’t realise their games were available via offshore operators. As leading game providers have a strong incentive to remain in regulated markets, the risk of losing access to these markets creates a powerful lever for regulators.
At the same time, unlicensed operators rely heavily on recognisable, high-performing content to attract players. If that supply is restricted, their ability to compete is weakened. In that sense, targeting the wider ecosystem could become a more effective enforcement tool for the KSA and other regulators, rather than issuing headline-grabbing fines.
None of this means that fines are irrelevant. They still serve an important signalling function, both politically and commercially. But on their own, they are unlikely to resolve the underlying issue.
The KSA is unlikely to ever collect the €24.8m from this case. But perhaps that was never really the point.
Mike de Graaff is co-founder and chief compliance officer at BetComply, as well as a leading voice on regulatory issues in the Netherlands and beyond.
The post Record KSA fine exposes limits of offshore enforcement first appeared on EGR Intel.
While large fines of offshore operators often remain unenforceable, regulators do have other tools they can use, says BetComply chief compliance officer Mike de Graaff
The post Record KSA fine exposes limits of offshore enforcement first appeared on EGR Intel.