Unibet ordered to reimburse Dutch players more than 93,000 euros

This week, Unibet was ordered to reimburse one of their players EUR 93,210.71 after he filed a lawsuit to recover the money he lost during the period (between January 24, 2020 and September 18, 2021) that Unibet online did not yet have a license for the Dutch market.

In November, Unibet was already convicted of this, but Unibet then indicated that it would resist so that the judge would consider this issue again.

Trannel Limited is the company that operated Unibet’s European website.

No license

The player and his lawyer Benzi Loonstein argue that the gaming agreement he concluded with Unibet on January 24, 2020 is invalid, because Unibet did not have a license at that time to organize games of chance in the Netherlands. Offering online games of chance without a license was therefore a violation of the Dutch Gambling Act.

Due to this invalidity, limitation could not be invoked and other arguments of Unibet were also dismissed by the judge.

Gaming agreement void between player and Unibet

Trannel Limited drew attention to a policy of tolerance, because according to them, online gambling was socially accepted, but the judge pointed out that offering games of chance without a license is still considered illegal despite social acceptance.

The judge therefore concluded that the gambling agreement between the player and Unibet was null and void. Unibet was therefore ordered to reimburse 93,210.71 euros, the amount the man had lost at the online casino. Unibet must also bear the legal costs of 2,692 euros.