The Netherlands Gambling Authority (Kansspelautoriteit, or Ksa) has fined EOD Code SRL €37 million for offering online gambling to Dutch players without a licence. Announced on 22 October 2026, it is the largest penalty the regulator has imposed for illegal gambling to date, and it was calculated on an estimate of the company’s Dutch turnover rather than the standard fine tables.
EOD Code, which says it is registered in Costa Rica, was found to be running a network of twelve unlicensed casino brands that accepted customers from the Netherlands.
One investigation, twelve sites
The case started with a single brand, Instantcasino. As the Ksa looked further, it linked eleven more sites to the same operator, including Skyhills, Slotmonster, Betiro, Fastslots, Goldenpanda and Winningz. None of them held a Dutch licence.
Ksa staff were able to sign up and play on several of the sites, which had no measures in place to keep out players based in the Netherlands. The regulator also listed aggravating factors: there were no visible age checks, and the sites offered cryptocurrency and other anonymous payment options, which the Ksa says make money laundering easier. EOD Code had already been served with an order subject to penalty payments over the same offering before the fine was issued.
Why the fine is tied to turnover
Under its normal fining policy, the Ksa works from set base amounts. In this case it concluded that those amounts would be out of proportion to what the operator had earned from Dutch players, so it used its power to set a turnover related fine instead. The regulator stated that “Deze boete voor EOD Code is de hoogste boete die de Ksa tot nu toe voor illegaal aanbod heeft opgelegd”, meaning this is the highest fine it has so far imposed for an illegal offering.
The approach raises the ceiling again after the Ksa’s €25 million fine against Novatech earlier this year, which had itself been a record at the time. For offshore operators targeting the Dutch market, the message is that penalties can now scale with estimated revenue rather than stop at a fixed amount.
Pressure on the black market keeps building
The Netherlands legalised online gambling in October 2021, but the regulated market is still competing hard with unlicensed sites. The Ksa estimated last year that more money is spent with illegal operators than with licensed ones, a finding first reported as illegal gambling outweighing the legal market.
According to DutchNews, broadcaster BNR reported in August that illegal operators were reaching people registered with Cruks, the national self-exclusion register, through Facebook and Instagram ads. In June, the Dutch cabinet proposed a ban on online gambling advertising and bonuses.
Alongside fines, the Ksa says it works closely with payment service providers, hosting firms, banks and large technology companies to cut off illegal operators. The full decision and its current status are published by the Kansspelautoriteit.
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