- Dutch court orders PokerStars and Bwin to reimburse players $450,000 for losses from 2006.
- Operators’ gambling agreements declared “null and void” as they had no gaming license in the Netherlands.
- Both PokerStars and Bwin are currently unlicensed by the Dutch gaming regulator.
- Ruling could set precedent for hundreds of similar lawsuits in the Dutch legal system.
A Dutch court ruled gambling agreements that PokerStars and Bwin had players agree to before the country legalized online gaming in October 2021 are “null and void.” It ordered the companies to immediately reimburse two online poker players $450,000 for losses dating back to 2006.
According to a report from local industry site CasinoNieuws, the Overijssel District Court ruled Wednesday in favor of two players who had filed separate lawsuits against PokerStars and Bwin. The court deemed the operators’ agreements with players, issued while the Netherlands was a gray market, as null and void because they did not have a gaming license in the Netherlands.
To this day, neither operator is licensed by the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gaming regulator. Bwin does not yet have a license. PokerStars withdrew its application last year but was expected to return in 2024 — whether this court ruling has a bearing on that decision remains to be seen.
As CasinoNieuws added, the court rejected PokerStars’ argument that it shouldn’t have to reimburse the two Dutch players because the money they lost playing poker went to other poker players.
