Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has issued two penalty orders against the owner of social media account Luxurybingods for offering and advertising bingo in the country without a licence.
Luxurybingods faces two separate penalties. For organising bingo games, it will have to pay €19,000 (£15,839/$21,158) per game up to a maximum of €190,000. As for advertising, the penalty is set at €9,500 per advert up to a maximum of €95,000.
Small games of chance such as bingo may only be run by those that have been operating for at least three years.
Further bingo rules include that top prizes must be between €400 and €1,550, while there is a blanket ban on advertising bingo. This ban applies to advertising any game of chance in the Netherlands.
Luxurybingods flagged for multiple breaches
A KSA investigation uncovered multiple breaches of Dutch law. During a visit to the Harbour Club in Eindhoven in March, supervisors found Luxurybingods to be operating bingo illegally.
Tickets for bingo games were on sale for €65 each and top prizes far exceeded the maximum permitted by law. KSA also noted bingo was being organised for the good of Luxurybingods.
In addition, KSA officers discovered that Luxurybingods games were being advertised “extensively” on social media platform TikTok.
In its ruling, KSA said it has taken action as the chance of recurrence is “high”. The regulator said Luxurybingods has previously organised illegal bingo at other locations, while its Instagram account has been active and advertising its games since 2022.
“The organisation has already been reprimanded for this by KSA,” the regulator said. “The imposed penalty payment order prevents the person concerned from continuing to organise these types of bingos.”
