Winning Poker Network (WPN) has received a €1.275m fine for illegally operating in the Netherlands.
The Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), had originally imposed an order subject to a penalty on the operator after its Americas Cardroom and TruePoker were available to players.
While WPN subsequently ceased the illegal activity, the KSA can still impose a fine for the duration of the violation.
The regulator said “aggravating circumstances,” such as the sites using a foreign licence to “pretend to be a reliable party,” saw the fine increase.
“The KSA takes this type of consumer fraud very seriously,” it said.
“'A penalty payment order is an effective way to quickly take illegal supply off the air,” said KSA chairman Michel Groothuizen.
“However, these types of parties should not think that they will get off easy with this, so we also impose fines for the violation committed. In doing so, we hit them where it really hurts, namely in their wallets.”