Online Casino Forced to Repay Gambler €200K by Dutch Court
Strict rules safeguard the consumers and the gambling market available to customers in the Netherlands. Per the existing regulations, online gambling operators are not permitted to offer their services to Dutch customers without a license. Although the country started regulating online gambling a few years ago, several cases predating the regulations were ruled in favor of gamblers who lost a lot of money.
For example, in November, two gambling operators were ordered by a Dutch court to pay back €124,000 ($132,000) and €93,000 ($99,0000) to individuals who lost them while gambling online. The court’s rulings were in favor of the gamblers as the operators that provided their services did so without a license to operate in the Netherlands.
In a similar case, another Dutch gambler won a lawsuit, despite losing €200,000 ($212,900) while gambling online. The case involves a person who gambled between January 2018 and November 2019, ahead of the legalization of online gambling in the Netherlands. At the time, iGaming was illegal, but as it turns out, some operators offered their services regardless of that prohibition.
As announced by NL Times, the Overijssel court ordered casino operator Bwin to return the money an unnamed Dutch gambler lost while using the services of the operator. Upon announcing the ruling, the court said that the operator offered its services to the customer without the required gambling license. This, according to the court, made the contract between the gambler and the operator invalid.
The Court Rules in Favor of the Gambler
According to the gambler’s defense, the operator did not enforce player protection or attempt to decrease the losses of their client. Moreover, the defense argued that although their client displayed signs of problem gambling, the operator did not intervene.
Bwin responded to the allegations, claiming that it offers a wide range of responsible gambling options. Such include options for time and deposit limits, as well as self-exclusion. Moreover, Bwin said that while it operated without a license, this did not void its agreement with the customer.
The court did not agree with the operator’s position and sided with the gambler. As a result, the Overijssel court ruled the operator to repay the customer more than €187,000 ($199,000), money that the man lost while gambling online. Additionally, the operator was ordered to pay for the costs associated with the lawsuit, taking the total to nearly €200,000 ($212,900).
