Hard Rock Casino NL cleared for Dutch sports betting

• The KSA has extended iCasino BV’s remote gambling licence to cover online sports betting from 12 October.
• iCasino operates Hard Rock Casino NL, a casino-only brand in the Netherlands since July 2024.
• Parent SpinCore Group has yet to set a launch date for the sportsbook.

Hard Rock Casino NL has the green light to take sports bets in the Netherlands. The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has extended the licence of iCasino BV, the company behind the brand, to cover online sports betting.

Parent SpinCore Group confirmed the approval on LinkedIn yesterday on 12 October, the day it took effect.

Licence first, launch later

The approval marks the latest regulatory step in a plan first flagged in 2024. iCasino received its original KSA licence, covering casino games only, on 21 May 2024. The Maastricht-based company went live that July as iCasino.nl and later moved to Hard Rock branding.

Paul Strikers, iCasino’s chief executive at launch and a former head of Novomatic Netherlands, said at the time that sports betting would come next. BetComply, which steered the first application, stayed on to handle ongoing compliance.

SpinCore’s Q1 2026 report confirmed the sportsbook application and pointed to a launch towards the end of the third quarter. That window has closed. In its LinkedIn post, the group said more work is needed before bets can be taken, and it gave no launch date.

The group called the approval a milestone for the Dutch business and thanked its staff and partners. SpinCore Group said in its LinkedIn post:

“This marks another exciting chapter in the journey of Hard Rock Casino Netherlands and represents an important step forward in our ambition to deliver an even more complete online gaming experience. Behind this achievement lies an incredible amount of hard work, determination and teamwork.”

Whose Hard Rock?

Despite the name, this is not a Hard Rock Digital operation. SpinCore runs the Dutch brand under a licence from Hard Rock Digital. Its Q1 report lists that fee among its main costs, alongside platform spending and gaming tax.

SpinCore itself is young. It was formed in December 2025, when the Hard Rock Casino NL team joined forces with Belgium’s Blitz Group, which runs Blitz.be and SuperGame.be. The group is headquartered in St Julian’s, Malta, with teams in Antwerp and Maastricht.

The technology comes from Bragg Gaming Group, whose turnkey platform and player account management system power a lobby of more than 10,000 games. Gaming Corps joined the content line-up in June with a football-themed selection timed for the World Cup.

The numbers show a business heading the right way without yet covering its costs. SpinCore’s Q1 report put group gross win at €6.7m, up 23%. The Dutch arm contributed €3.78m, up 42.1% from €2.66m, and its EBITDA loss narrowed from €570,000 to €450,000.

A market under strain

As of October 2026, the Netherlands is a hard place to grow. Gambling tax went from 30.5% to 34.2% of gross gaming revenue in 2025, then to 37.8% on 1 January 2026.

The Treasury has little to show for it. A joint Ministry of Finance and KSA report found the 2025 increase raised just €2m in extra revenue, against a €108m forecast. Deposit limits introduced in October 2024 have also dragged on operator revenue.

Licensed online GGR came in at €602m in H2 2025, flat on the €600m recorded in the first half. Over the same period, the licensed share of spend slipped from 56% to an estimated 53%, according to KSA figures reported by InterGame.

That leaves unlicensed sites with an estimated 47% of online gambling spend. Licensed operators have even taken Meta to court over illegal gambling adverts on its platforms.

The regulated field is also crowded. It opened in October 2021 with 10 licence holders and had more than 30 by August 2026.

On 17 September, the KSA renewed eight licences from that first cohort through to September 2031. Those renewed include bet365, BetCity, TOTO Online and Holland Casino. LiveScore and Tombola, the other two originals, left in 2024. Jacks.nl faces its own deadline on 20 November, with 711 due by 16 March 2027.

The renewal rules were tougher than in 2021. Applicants had to account for past compliance failures and, for the first time, file exit plans. The KSA has kept up the pressure since, calling out 711 over withdrawals earlier this month.

SpinCore has already named Finland, where a regulated market opens in July 2027, as a possible next step. Before that, the Dutch sportsbook will test whether a brand-licensed challenger can pull bettors away from established licensees. It will also have to compete with the offshore sites still taking close to half of all spend.