KSA warns illegal gambling share nears half of Dutch market
Table of contents
- The KSA’s tenth biannual monitoring report shows the Netherlands’ licensed online gambling market generating €602m GGR in H2 2025, essentially flat on the previous half year.
- GGR channelisation to licensed operators fell to 53% in H2 2025, meaning close to half of all money wagered in the Netherlands is flowing to illegal platforms.
- KSA chairman Michel Groothuizen has called for a blanket spending limit to curb account-hopping between licensed operators, while stressing enforcement against illegal sites must intensify.
The Dutch Gambling Authority (KSA) has warned that the country’s licensed online gambling market is stagnating, as its tenth biannual monitoring report shows illegal operators continuing to capture a growing share of total player spending.
The report, published on 16 April 2026 and covering the second half of 2025, shows licensed operator GGR holding at €602m, a marginal increase from the €600m recorded in H1 2025. That stability masks a deeper decline: full-year comparisons for 2024 and 2025 show an 18% decrease in GGR since the second half of 2024, per prior H2 2024 data showing the legal market generating €697m.
The KSA attributed the slowdown primarily to deposit limits introduced in October 2024, which set default monthly ceilings of €700 for players over 25 and €300 for those aged 18 to 25. The gambling tax rate, now at 37.8% of GGR, has also been cited as a contributing factor.
Illegal market expands
The number of licence holders increased from 30 to 31 between July and December 2025. The regulator estimates 810,000 players bet with legal providers in the second half of the year, down from 850,000 in the first.
Despite the number of players marginally decreasing, there were nearly 100,000 more active accounts in H2 than H1. The KSA said the rising account count suggests players are spreading activity across multiple operators, possibly to work around per-operator deposit caps.
The most significant concern in the report relates to where gambling money is actually going. GGR channelisation to licensees fell three percentage points, from 56% in H1 2025 to 53% in H2, meaning close to half of all money wagered in the Netherlands is estimated to flow to unlicensed platforms. Player channelisation also declined, with an estimated 91% of Dutch gamblers wagering exclusively with legal providers, down from 94% in the previous half.
In H1 2025, an estimated 15,000 people were thought to have engaged with both legal and illegal providers, with 19,000 betting exclusively on the black market. By H2, those figures had risen to 20,000 and 30,000 respectively.
Data from H2 Gambling Capital shows the licensed online gambling market across the EU grew by 11% from 2024 to 2025, reinforcing the KSA’s view that domestic regulatory pressures are driving the Netherlands’ underperformance.
Player protection concerns
On a positive note, the deposit limit regime has continued to reduce average losses. Average monthly losses per player stand at around €120, down more than a quarter compared to 2024 levels. The KSA noted the figure reflects players spreading activity across multiple providers.
The regulator flagged the disproportionate representation of young adults as a persistent concern, noting that 18-year-olds hold the highest concentration of gambling accounts relative to their age group. The KSA said strict enforcement of duty of care obligations would remain a central priority for the licensed market.
KSA chairman Michel Groothuizen addressed the debate around a sector-wide spending cap. In a blog post accompanying the report, Groothuizen said:
“There is much enthusiasm in politics to combat the circumvention of provider-specific deposit limits by means of an overarching gambling limit. This would put an end to hopping between different legal providers. Of course, this will not stop players from switching to illegal gambling. Fortunately, a great many Dutch people seem to value legal gambling, so perhaps the number of switchers will be lower than expected. It also means that we must keep the legal offering visible to players (so no total ban on advertising), but also that, on the other hand, the illegal market must be tackled more effectively.”
The KSA has stepped up enforcement activity in recent months. In March 2026, the regulator imposed a record €24.8m penalty on Novatech for offering unlicensed gambling to Dutch players.
Nederlandse Loterij has also launched civil proceedings against Qbet, which it describes as the largest illegal gambling site operating in the Netherlands.
What comes next
The spring 2026 report sets up a critical policy moment for the Netherlands. Political momentum is building behind a universal spending limit applying across all licensed operators rather than on a per-site basis.
How the measure affects black market migration will likely define the regulatory debate for the next 12 months. For licensed operators, the environment shows no signs of easing, with the KSA reaffirming that duty of care compliance and enforcement against illegal competitors will both intensify.
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