An online gambling site based in Costa Rica has been fined €1 million by the Dutch gaming regulator for operating without a licence.

The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) issued the fine after the company behind the site, Alimaniere, set up a “mirror site” to get around an earlier ban.

Alimaniere complied with an order to shut down its original website, timetospin.com, but further investigations revealed that customers could keep playing on a new site, timetospin1.com, using the same account details.

The KSA said that the fine was larger than the standard penalty of €600,000 for running an unlicensed gambling site because the company had breached several other rules, such as a ban on underage gambling.

Michel Groothuizen, chair of the KSA’s board of directors, said: “The Netherlands has a legal market to make sure people who want to gamble can do so safely.

“We see that illegal operators often make no effort to prevent risky gaming behaviour. There was no age verification, so that minors were able to play, and inactivity fees were charged when people didn’t use their accounts for a period of time.

“We take strong action against these kinds of operators.”