Ksa Collects €840,000 From Starzino Operator That Ignored a Dutch Stop Order

The Dutch regulator's latest published sanction is not a fine but the bill for an ignored order. Starzino's Costa Rican operator forfeited the maximum in two weeks, and the Ksa's newer orders now set penalties well above it.

• The Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) has published a decision to collect €840,000 in forfeited penalty payments from 3-102-897762 LTDA, the Costa Rican company it identifies as the owner of starzino.com
• The Ksa ordered the company on 6 March to stop serving Dutch players by 3 April, at €420,000 a week up to €840,000, and checks on 7 and 14 April found Starzino still open to them
• The collection decision is dated 17 July and was due to be published on 14 August, but appeared on the Ksa's sanctions page only on 9 November
• Ksa staff joined from a Dutch IP address, deposited in Bitcoin and played a slot, although Starzino's own terms list the Netherlands as an excluded country
• The same €840,000 forfeiture preceded the Ksa's record €37.25m fine on EOD Code, while orders issued since June set maximums of up to €1,564,500

The Ksa Found Starzino Still Open Days After Its Deadline

The Ksa's board decided on 17 July to collect €840,000 from 3-102-897762 LTDA, a company number in the Costa Rican format, for breaching a penalty order imposed on 6 March, according to the collection decision posted on 9 November. The order required the company to stop serving Dutch players within four weeks on "the website investigated by the Kansspelautoriteit and all other websites owned or managed by the offender", in our translation, at €420,000 for each week or part of a week, up to €840,000.

The grace period ended on 3 April and the company did not object to the order. On 7 and 14 April a Ksa supervisor logged in to starzino.com with existing account details and played, so the maximum was forfeited in two instalments. A letter announcing the collection, sent on 1 May, did not reach the company by post; the Ksa sent it again on 28 May and heard nothing. The company was given six weeks from 17 July to pay, and the regulator said that "only in special circumstances can collection be waived in whole or in part", finding none.

A publication decision of the same date set publication for 14 August. The page went up nearly three months later, without explanation. Both decisions still carry the note that an objection can be lodged, and the Ksa has not said whether anything has been paid.

Bitcoin Deposits and a Prefilled Dutch Dialling Code

According to the March order, a supervisor registered on starzino.com from a Dutch IP address on 8 July 2025, with the Netherlands preselected as country and the +31 dialling code filled in, deposited BTC 0.00024, about $26, from an Exodus wallet, and played the slot Majestic White Rhino at €0.01 a line. Play was still possible on 1 September.

On 30 October 2025 the old account was blocked, but a new one could be opened, funded with $30 in Bitcoin and used to play. The site and its live chat were in English, with balances and terms in euros. Article 2.1.2 of Starzino's terms named the Netherlands as an excluded country, yet nothing blocked Dutch players. The Ksa cited Dutch-language Trustpilot reviews and two Dutch-language affiliate sites promoting Starzino as further evidence the site was aimed in part at the Netherlands. iDEAL does not appear in the decision.

The Ksa cites the Costa Rican commercial register as placing the company at a law firm's address in Jacó, Garabito. SkyGrow Group Limitada, ordered on 30 July to stop offering boomerang.bet to Dutch players, is registered at the same address.

The Maximum Is Being Raised Faster Than It Is Collected

Starzino's €840,000 ceiling matches the order imposed on Polymarket's operator in January and the EOD Code order of July 2025, and the Ksa published another €840,000 collection in April. It ties that level to the roughly €800,000 a licensed operator spends to enter the market and again each year. Newer orders go further: up to €1,277,500 for Kevenga Limitada's betspino.com in June, €1,564,500 for Savant Limitada SRL's gxbet.com and instasino.com in July, and €914,000 for SkyGrow. The ceiling is rising, but it only matters if the money arrives.

Collection Is the Weak Link, and the Ksa Knows It

A company that ignored an order and two letters is unlikely to transfer €840,000 to a Dutch bank account. Ksa chairman Michel Groothuizen wrote in September that fines on offshore firms are rarely paid, and that the Ksa is pressing technology platforms and the financial sector to cut illegal operators off. A Bitcoin cashier is harder to cut off than an iDEAL route. For EOD Code, an unpaid €840,000 was followed by a revenue-based fine; Starzino's operator now stands where EOD Code stood before it.

Publication Is the Part the Ksa Controls

The Ksa publishes to warn consumers about "certain commercial practices of providers of games of chance without a licence and the risks consumers run", in our translation, and notes that knowingly playing on an unlicensed site is itself an offence. This warning arrived nearly three months late. With licensed revenue down to €4.1 billion in 2025 and channelisation by revenue at 59%, prompt disclosure is one of the few tools that needs no offshore cooperation.

The Ksa has taken every step Dutch law sets out against Starzino's operator. What it cannot yet show is that any of the €840,000 will be paid.