Online gambling operator 1xBet is the latest company to have been fined by Netherlands’ gambling regulators for serving Dutch punters without local permission.

On Monday, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) regulatory body announced it had imposed a €400k penalty on the companies behind the Curacao-licensed 1xBet.com and Cyprus-based xbet-1.com sites, as well as 83 associated online domains deemed to be similarly serving Dutch gamblers without local authorization.

The KSA says the offending domains targeted Dutch customers during the period spanning February-July 2018. Among the criteria the KSA uses to identify unauthorized operators include offering services in the Dutch language, offering payment processing services via the popular local option iDEAL, and not geo-blocking Dutch IP addresses from accessing the sites.

1X Corp NV responded to the KSA’s accusations by claiming that the fine was unwarranted, in part because the volume of business the sites derived from Dutch customers was “exceptionally small.” The company further claimed that it would have acted sooner to restrict Dutch customers had the KSA informed the company in advance of its concerns.