A Dutch court has ruled in favor of a pair of online-poker players who filed suit against PokerStars and bwin Poker, respectively, who sought refunds of their losses of their losses on the sites on the basis that the sites had been operating illegally, being non-licensed under Netherlands law.

In the rulings, issued separately today by European Court judge Evelien Rozeboon, PokerStars and bwin were both ordered to issue refunds in the amounts of the net losses of the two players, in addition to interest and assorted legal fees and court cases. 

Together, the ordered refunds amount to more than $400,000, and as the plaintiffs in the cases remain unnamed under Dutch law, it is possible that both cases involved the same player. The PokerStars case, however, involved 15 years of online activity, while the bwin case covered only two years. 

Both plaintiffs were represented by Amsterdam-based attorney Benzi Loonstein, who described the rulings as "groundbreaking" verdicts, as they potentially open the door to massive amounts of litigation. Loonstein acknowledged that he is already working on behalf of about 15 clients.

Neither PokerStars, through its corporate parent TSG Interactiver Gaming Europe Ltd., nor bwin, through its corporate parent Electraworks Europe Ltd., have responded publicly to the rulings. Neither company has announced any plans to appeal the rulings to the extent allowed under Dutch law. Both companies are based in Malta.

PokerStars ordered to refund roughly $235,000

In the case involving the PokerStars player, the Court of Overijssel ordered PokerStars to refund US $230,705.22 and €400, the total of the funds that were deposited on PokerStars and lost between 2006 and 2021. The losses were mainly from online poker, according to the ruling, but also included some losses from online casino games and sports betting.

PokerStars was also ordered to pay a small amount of statutory interest, but only from the time a court summons was issued in the case, around August 1, 2023. The court also ordered Stars to pay €2,838.24 in extrajudicial collection costs, plus another €8,012.14 in assorted court and legal fees. PokerStars has 14 days to pay the judgment.

PokerStars, in arguing its side of the case, claimed that ruling in favor of the plaintif would mean that he was being allowed to gamble without risk, in effect freerolling the site. Judge Rozeboom rejected that argument on the basis that the contract between the player and PokerStars was declared null and void, meaning that it had never existed in a legal sense, and thus any fees charged under those terms of service were not allowable.

The judge also rejected a parallel defense argument that the losses the player incurred were to other online poker player and not to PokerStars itself. The judge's rationale for rejecting that defense was that the plaintiff deposited the money into an account created and hosted by PokerStars, and the losses were paid out of that account's balance to other players, in addition to any fees that PokerStars itself earned in the process.

Bwin ordered to refund roughly €187,600

In the largely parallel bwin case, Judge Rozeboom ordered bwin to refund €187,621.96, the net amount that the two sides eventually agreed that the plaintiff lost online between January 2018 and November 2019. Bwin will also be subject to a small statutory interest charge, calculated from August 4, 2023, and was assessed another €8,012.14 in assorted court fees. Like PokerStars, Bwin was given 14 days to pay the judgment.

Bwin offered different legal arguments than PokerStars in defense of its case but did not achieve any change in the outcome. Bwin argued that ongoing revisions in the Netherlands' online-gambling laws rendered certain parts of those laws inapplicable at various times, allowing bwin to legally offer services to Dutch players without being licensed. The judge rejected that line of defense.

Both PokerStars and bwin had previously run afoul of Dutch gaming regulators as well, perhaps making the Dutch court view some of the defense arguments in a colder light. In 2019, PokerStars was fined €400,000 and bwin was fined €350,000 by the Netherlands' Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), in separate cases, again for operating without a license in the country.

That’s according to Chandler Pohl, vice president and legal counsel for MGM Resorts International. His comments during a lengthy, and sometimes bewildering, Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) meeting on Wednesday means BetMGM Poker NV is still not close to prime time. (MGM Resorts International owns half of BetMGM, Entain owns the other half).

Nevertheless, Pohl urged the panel to recommend that the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) grant the company what would be its 14th extension of an interactive gaming license for online poker. The NGC is scheduled to meet ion April 18.

“We have a few more small projects related to sports betting, and then the timeline would allow the poker [product] to be the next project.”

The NGCB ultimately agreed to recommend another extension. Although the extensions are officially for six months, the NGC has been granting year-long extensions up to this point.

I don’t mind recommending another waiver to the Commission … but I’m going to leave a very clear record without conditioning the waiver.

WPT Global (WPTG) President Alex Scott said his company has the US “very much on our radar” but cautioned that there would no immediate launch state-side.

Scott told that WPTG was obviously thinking about entry into the United States, though its first step into a regulated market would be somewhere with international liquidity.

“The US is the home of poker,” Scott said. “There is no market like the US when it comes to poker. People grow up playing it. It’s really part of the national culture.”

“Really, if you want to maximize the value of anything poker, the US has to play a part in that,” he added. “Yes, obviously, we want to be in the US in the future.”

However, he said the company is looking at several months of work — involving software development, real-time integration, and organizational changes, among other things — before entering any regulated markets, and closed ones like the US will not be top priority.

“It’s a slow process,” Scott said. “There’s an enormous amount of work required to enter all of the regulated markets that are out there. We definitely aspire to be in as many of those regulated markets as we can, but we also know it’s going to be a very difficult challenge.”

A few months ago, Shaun Deeb Flag of the United States made headlines in the poker world for his bet against Bill Perkins Flag of the United States. It consisted of lowering his body fat to 17% and although the prop bet did not come to an end, Deeb took home US$800K and the entire scene was surprised to see the noticeable change in his physique.

Apparently, Deeb's achievement in his bet against Perkins has motivated him to encourage other people to do something similar. The change in him was very noticeable and everyone claims to see him much better after having lost almost 40 kilos. Perhaps this marks the beginning of an equally favorable change in Kuhn's life.

Now, Deeb is on the other side of this story and bet Robert Kuhn Flag of the United States that he must go 30 days without eating anything, only drinking water, coffee and vitamins. The bet would be with odds of 20:1. If Kuhn loses, he pays US$3,000 to Deeb, while if he meets the challenge, Deeb must pay him US$60,000.

Deeb established certain rules that Kuhn must follow in order to win:

- Kuhn cannot consume anything other than water or coffee for 30 days.

- Kuhn can drink coffee after two hours of waking up.

- Kuhn can consume electrolytes, salts, and vitamins.

Kuhn agreed to accept these conditions, but he first plans to consult with a medical team to make sure he is not putting his health at risk. He has already had blood tests and will be under medical follow-up throughout the process.

Poker players in Canada have been starved for live tournament action for far too long until WSOP and GGPoker announced the launch of the first-ever WSOPC Toronto this March. Starting on March 22, WSOPC Toronto will be played at the Great Canadian Resort and will feature eight WSOPC ring events with buyins ranging from $250 to $3,500. The festival will run until April 1 and will include No Limit Hold’em events only.

With just over a week left before WSOP Toronto 2024 kicks-off, WSOP Ontario and GGPoker are offering a variety of satellite options to win your way into the Main Event at just a fraction of the price.