Dutch Prosecutors Seize €2.1M From Gambler Who Created 400+ Bonus Accounts

Dutch prosecutors have confiscated €2.1 million, approximately $2.35 million, from a 46-year-old man who created more than 400 online gambling accounts using false and third-party identities to exploit casino bonuses.

The scheme operated between 2007 and 2016 and targeted online gambling companies that were not licensed in the Netherlands.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, the man repeatedly claimed bonuses offered for first deposits and subsequent deposits before completing the wagering requirements attached to them.

Authorities said the structure of the promotions gave him a greater than 50% probability of finishing the required wagering with a profit.

More Than 400 Accounts Created Under Different Identities

The defendant used fictitious personal information as well as the identities of other people to create accounts with gambling operators.

When operators required identity verification, he allegedly produced forged documents to make the accounts appear to belong to different customers.

He also used a separate IP address for each account, helping prevent gambling companies from identifying connections between accounts and detecting repeated bonus claims.

The operation was therefore considerably more sophisticated than repeatedly registering with different email addresses.

It combined false identities, technical measures and payment infrastructure to make hundreds of accounts appear unrelated.

Withdrawals Spread Across Multiple Payment Services

The defendant also distributed withdrawals between different payment providers and electronic wallets.

This made it more difficult for operators to connect payouts from supposedly independent gambling accounts to the same person.

The Public Prosecution Service said the strategy was designed around promotional mathematics rather than conventional gambling alone.

By repeatedly obtaining deposit bonuses and satisfying their wagering conditions across hundreds of accounts, the defendant could create situations where the additional promotional value shifted the expected outcome in his favour.

The case illustrates a longstanding problem for online casino operators known as bonus abuse, where customers attempt to obtain promotional offers multiple times despite conditions limiting them to one person or household.

Activity Took Place Before Dutch Regulated Market Opened

The scheme ran from 2007 until 2016, several years before the Netherlands introduced its current regulated online gambling market in October 2021.

During the period covered by the case, the operators involved did not hold Dutch online gambling licences.

That does not remove the alleged fraud against the companies. Prosecutors focused on the use of false identities, forged documents and deceptive account structures to obtain money.

The case therefore differs from regulatory enforcement against an operator for serving Dutch players without local authorisation.

€2.1M Confiscated From Defendant

Dutch authorities ultimately sought to recover the financial benefit generated through the scheme.

The Public Prosecution Service reported that more than €2.1 million was taken from the defendant.

The case demonstrates how promotional systems can become targets for organised exploitation when operators rely on bonuses tied to deposits and wagering volume.

Modern iGaming platforms increasingly use device fingerprinting, payment analysis, shared identity databases and behavioural monitoring to identify multi-accounting.

However, the Dutch case shows how a determined user was able to combine hundreds of identities, IP addresses and payment methods over almost a decade to repeatedly access promotional offers intended for separate customers.