Nederlandse Loterij targets Qbet in black market lawsuit
Table of contents
- Nederlandse Loterij has launched civil proceedings against Qbet, which it describes as the largest illegal gambling site operating in the Netherlands.
- The lawsuit targets Qbet operator (Novatech), along with its trust offices, letterbox companies and individual directors, based in Curaçao and Costa Rica.
- Novatech was hit with a record €24.8m fine by the Dutch gambling regulator just weeks before the civil action was filed.
Nederlandse Loterij, the Dutch state lottery operator, has initiated civil proceedings against Qbet in a direct effort to shut down the Netherlands’ largest unlicensed gambling site.
The lawsuit targets the operators and directors behind Qbet, whose parent entities are registered in Curaçao and Costa Rica. It is the second civil action Nederlandse Loterij has brought against an unlicensed operator, following its lawsuit against Lalabet, filed in March 2025 and now in active proceedings.
Beyond the platform
The case targets not only the Qbet platform itself but also the operators and directors behind it, seeking to hold trust offices, letterbox companies and their directors personally liable.
This civil action runs in parallel with existing regulatory enforcement. Novatech, which operates Qbet.com and 55Bet.com, was fined a record €24,846,000 by the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) in March.
Investigators found that staff were able to create player accounts, make deposits and place bets on the sites, with neither company implementing technical measures to block access from the Netherlands.
Aggravating factors included the lack of age verification, the acceptance of cryptocurrency and the allowance of anonymous payments, which raised money laundering concerns.
Novatech’s regulatory difficulties extend beyond the Netherlands. The company has recently been banned in Sweden after getting on Spelinspektionen’s radar.
Arjan Blok, CEO of Nederlandse Loterij, said:
“Players can still easily access illegal gambling sites, without age checks or betting limits, and with irresponsible bonuses and misleading payment methods. Currently, 200,000 Dutch people are gambling illegally. It is precisely these players who run the greatest risks. They play more often and with more money on illegal sites.”
“That is why Nederlandse Loterij is taking responsibility and taking the largest illegal gambling site to court. Not only the direct offender, but also everyone behind them who facilitates this site. With the goal of shutting down and keeping illegal gambling sites shut down.”
Black market bleeds revenue
The lawsuit reflects a worsening problem for the regulated Dutch market.
The KSA’s H1 2025 monitoring report found that the channelisation rate for the licensed market fell to 49% — meaning the majority of total gambling spend in the Netherlands now flows to unlicensed operators. The KSA attributed part of this shift to players moving to illegal sites to avoid new player protection rules introduced in October 2024.
Nederlandse Loterij has previously quantified its own losses to the black market. In filing the Lalabet lawsuit in March 2025, Blok estimated the operator had lost between €15m and €20m in revenue across 2023 and 2024 due to competition from unlicensed sites. No updated 2026 figure has been confirmed by the company.
The Lalabet proceedings illustrate how Nederlandse Loterij is constructing its legal strategy. That case, now before the court in The Hague, targets multiple parties — including a Curaçao-based trust office accused of facilitating the corporate structure behind the platform. A follow-up hearing in the Lalabet case also took place on 9 April 2026, the same day the Qbet lawsuit was announced.
The KSA’s H1 2025 monitoring report, which first confirmed the illegal market had overtaken the regulated sector, forms the backdrop to both legal actions.
A test for Europe
The outcome of both cases will be closely watched by licensed operators and regulators across Europe. Nederlandse Loterij’s action against Qbet is an uncommon initiative for a licensed operator to directly challenge a black market rival through the civil courts.
The likelihood of offshore operators paying administrative fines remains uncertain, as Novatech doensn’t have a physical presence in the Netherlands. The civil route — targeting individuals and corporate facilitators rather than platforms alone — is designed to close exactly that enforcement gap.
If successful, the proceedings could establish a replicable model for regulated operators in other European markets where black market activity continues to outpace regulatory reach.
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