Dutch Regulator’s Record €37m Fine Shows EU Crackdown Scaling Up

Keeping unlicensed operators out of a regulated market is a constant job for any gambling watchdog, and the Netherlands’ Kansspelautoriteit has just handed down its toughest reminder yet. The regulator has fined offshore operator EOD Code SRL a record sum for running a dozen gambling sites without permission, and the size of the penalty says plenty about how seriously European regulators now treat illegal supply chains.

What’s been released

The fine has nothing to do with new games, but everything to do with who gets to offer them.
The Dutch Gambling Authority has issued a record fine to an illegal party offering gambling without a licence through websites including Instantcasino and Skyhills, with EOD Code SRL receiving a penalty of 37 million euros.

An investigation found the company was illegally offering more than a dozen betting sites to Dutch customers, including Betblast, Betiro, Fastslots, Foxygold, Goldenpanda, Incognitocasino, Luckypays, Sambaslots, Skyhills, Slotmonster, and Winningz.

EOD Code says it is registered in Costa Rica and offered casino games to players in the Netherlands without a Dutch licence.

What’s changed

The headline figure comes from how the KSA chose to calculate it.
Under Dutch gambling law the regulator can impose fixed administrative fines or opt for a revenue-based fine when an operator’s illegal turnover justifies a higher penalty, and in this case it estimated EOD Code’s income accordingly.

The KSA determined that standard fine structures were insufficient relative to the financial gains generated by the unlicensed operations, using a turnover-based calculation to remove the financial incentive for continued non-compliance.
One report notes the uncapped sum would have been far higher still, with the fine for EOD Code topping out well short of the raw estimate because of a legal cap, and the regulator having to lean on external data after the company stonewalled requests for its own figures.

Investigators didn’t have to dig far to find problems.
KSA inspectors were able to register and gamble on the sites, with the company having no measures in place to stop people in the Netherlands from using them.

Several of the sites had no visible age checks and also accepted cryptocurrency and other anonymous payment methods, meaning players could deposit money without clearly showing who they were.

EOD Code had previously been issued a penalty order for the same conduct and carried on regardless.

Where it fits

For UK players, none of the sites named here were ever part of the licensed market you’ll find on Casinofind.uk, so there’s no direct change to what’s available through your usual apps or lobbies. The relevance is in the pattern.
This fine surpasses the previous KSA record, set in March 2026 when Novatech was fined almost €24.8 million for operating Qbet.com and 55bet.com, and before that a 2024 fine of almost €20 million against Gammix, which ran Rantcasino.com and Betoriginal.com.
That trajectory mirrors what the UK Gambling Commission has pursued domestically for several years: treating unlicensed and black-market operators as a genuine threat to a regulated channel rather than a side issue.

The sequence of penalties reflects a sustained regulatory focus on closing gaps left by operators using offshore registrations to bypass local licensing requirements, aiming to protect consumers and the integrity of the regulated market.
Whether a UK-style crackdown on this scale follows is a separate question, but for players who stick to UK-licensed brands, stories like this are a useful reminder of exactly what that licensing layer is designed to filter out.

Sources

• CasinoBeats – Dutch regulator fines EOD Code record €37m over twelve illegal casinos
• iGaming Business – KSA imposes record €37 million fine on unlicensed operator managing over 10 sites
• NL Times – Dutch Gambling Authority issues record 37 million euro fine to illegal casino operator
• CasinoNoDeposits – KSA Fines EOD Code SRL €37M for Unlicensed Online Gambling
• CasinoListings – KSA Issues €37 Million Fine to EOD Code SRL
• FairGambling – Dutch Regulator Fines Instantcasino Owner Record €37M