The Netherlands’ gambling regulator issued a record high total of financial penalties in 2018, although collecting these penalties will prove far more difficult.

Last week, the Netherlands’ Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) gaming regulatory body announced that it had imposed a record €1,709,800 in financial penalties in 2018, nearly twice the €1m penalty total in 2017 and more than four times that of 2016’s penalty package. (For comparative purposes, the UK Gambling Commission’s financial penalty total for 2018 exceeded £27m.)

The spike in fines came after the KSA announced strict new rules targeting online operators who didn’t do enough to block Dutch residents’ access to their sites. The vast majority of 2018’s penalty total was imposed on five internationally licensed online operators: Bet-at-Home, Betsson, CyberRock/Honeydew, Mr Green and William Hill.

Some of these operators are appealing these penalties, based on the argument that existing Dutch gambling laws run counter to the European Union’s rules against unfair restriction of trade between members states. However, these appeals have traditionally found little favor with Dutch courts.