Dutch gambling stakeholders have congregated in Amsterdam to speak against some of the country’s controversial gambling restrictions, reasserting that the government has hindered the competitiveness of the licensed market.

Since re-regulating its online gaming market in 2021, the Netherlands has gone through major political and regulatory shifts to create a level playing field for legal operators – some decisions less successful than others, however.

The latest list of reforms saw the introduction of increased gambling taxes, rolled out in two phases, the last of which placed the rates at 37.8% of GGR earlier in January.

However, things have not led to the desired outcome of more money in the treasury. In fact, it has achieved quite the opposite effect. Naturally, the higher tax burdens also translate to higher consumer costs.

As such, players have apparently started to leave the legal Dutch market offer. 

Key figures from the likes of FDJ United and the VNLOK trade body expressed their views on this impact at Gaming in Holland this week.

VNLOK revealed last year that 70% of all online licensed operators reported more than a quarter disappearing from their total GGR when compared to 2024. This was after the above-mentioned tax raises were introduced.

Furthermore, there are currently talks on the political level to introduce a full ban on gambling advertising, a sharp turn from the current restriction that only applies to sports.

In light of the above, VNLOK Chair Björn Fuchs cautioned that any meaningful regulation needs to place player protection first and be mindful of the consequences that harsh restrictions can help drive the influence of the black market further.

Fuchs commented: “You need a holistic strategy in which regulation moves towards a system that protects the consumer and is based on proportionality and evidence, because if a policy fails, it is the consumer base that pays the price.”

Separating regulations from policymaking, for what it’s worth the Dutch regulator KSA is one of the most approachable gambling authorities in Europe. 

This was again evidenced at the GiH conference, where KSA Director Licensing & Supervision Ella Seijsener was apparently on the same page as VNLOK, and to an extent the legal operators the body represents.

Seijsener noted: “We have previously spoken out publicly against the total ban on advertising for online providers.” She was also adamant that the KSA remains wary of yet another proposal affecting the licensed market, which is to limit the number of legal iGaming operators.

Present at the conference was also Pascal Chaffard, Chief Online Betting and Gaming Officer at gambling international FDJ United. FDJ became active in the Netherlands through the Unibet brand after it acquired Kindred.

He concluded: “Every restrictive measure aimed at licensed operators that does not simultaneously address illegal operators makes the problem worse. The advertising ban, as currently proposed, risks accelerating the shift to illegal operators that everyone says they want to prevent.

“The black market does not respect borders, and neither can our response to it. Let us leave this room not just better informed, but better aligned, because reclaiming this market is not something any operator or regulator can do alone.”