Dutch spending more at illegal online casinos after stricter rules to protect gamblers

The Dutch have been spending more on gambling via illegal websites since October, the Dutch Gambling Authority (KSA) reported based on new figures. In that month, the Netherlands implemented measures to protect online gamblers.

After the new rules came into effect, Dutch gamblers spent about half of all the money they used on online gambling at illegal sites. The KSA estimates the illegal market amounted to 305 million euros in the last three months of last year and the legal market to 306 million euros. “The illegal market is therefore about the same size as the legal market,” the regulator noted. In the first half of 2024, 58 percent of gamblers’ money went to legal gambling sites.

Since October, a monthly limit applies to new online gamblers in the Netherlands. Young adults up to the age of 24 are limited to 150 euros per month, older gamblers can spend 350 euros per month. If they want to spend more, they have to contact the gambling site and convince it that they can afford a higher limit.

The sum of the stakes minus the prizes paid out rose by 6 percent over the whole of 2024 to almost 1.5 billion euros. During the second half of the year, this increased less sharply than in the first half. The regulator thinks that this may be related to the gambling peak during the Football Championship in June.

The supervisor added that the measures taken in the autumn also had positive effects. Players aged 24 or older lost an average of 148 euros per month in the second half of 2024, compared to 160 euros in the first half. After October, 1.4 percent of gamblers lost more than 1,000 euros per month; before that date, this was still 4 percent.