The plateauing of  the licensed online gambling market in the Netherlands has now been confirmed by the regulator itself.

In its Autumn Market Report, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) revealed that total iGaming GGR for the first half of the year came at roughly €600m – 16% lower than the €697m in H2 2024.

And while the number of player accounts seems to have slightly increased to 1.29 million for the six months ending June compared to the 1.18 million accounts in the second half of last year – with the prerequisite that a player can have multiple accounts – average player spend has actually dropped.

This is to be attributed to the stricter deposit limits introduced at the end of last year as one of the measures in a legislative package spearheaded by former Legal Protections Secretary Teun Struycken, and aimed at reforming the Remote Gambling Act (KOA).

One positive that could potentially be derived from these limits is that the average monthly player loss has also decreased, according to the KSA, dropping from €146 at the end of 2024 to €119 at the turn of this year.

There is, however, a second interpretation of this development, and it is that Dutch players are transitioning to the black market. This is seen in the KSA’s observation that licensed GGR compared to channelisation rates is shrinking – from 51% at the end of December last year to 49% at the start of 2025.

Combined with the 16% drop in regulated iGaming GGR for H1 cited earlier, this spells a worrying trend, which the KSA also acknowledged.

The reality of the otherwise well-intentioned player protection measures pushing Dutch players to the black market was recently addressed by Maarten Haijer, Secretary General of the European Betting and Gaming Association (EGBA).

“The real effect is that people that play more….go to the black market,” Haijer said for SBC News.