The Netherlands Gambling Authority (Kansspelautoriteit, or KSA) has recently revealed new information that shows that its efforts to protect players are still lowering dangerous gambling behaviour when playing at online casinos.
These rules, which went into effect in the second half of 2024, are not only cutting the number of high-risk players, but they are also doing so without causing a big movement towards illegal operators.
The KSA's most recent follow-up study confirms the good trend shown in an earlier study. Notably, the number of extreme player losses has gone down a lot, and players are still very interested in legal platforms. These results show that specific consumer protection rules, including limits on deposits and checks on affordability, are having the desired consequences.
Regulatory Framework Driving Results
The Ministry of Justice and Security ordered a complete overhaul of the rules, which is focused on protecting people from financial harm, especially young adults and other vulnerable groups, and promoting responsible gambling. One of the most important parts of the new rules is that players who want to set large monthly deposit restrictions must intervene. More specifically:
- Players between the ages of 18 and 24 must now talk to the operator before establishing a limit of more than €150 each month.
- Players over the age of 25 must do the same for limitations that are more than €350 per month.
This “contact moment” is necessary to make sure that players know about the risks of spending more money on gambling. Because of this, the number of players who set high restrictions has dropped rapidly and is currently less than half of all participants.
Also, deposit limits are being enforced more strictly. If a player deposits more than €300 (for young adults) or €700 (for everyone else) in a month, the gambling provider must check to see if the player can afford that much expenditure. If not, or if the cheque is skipped, no more deposits will be allowed for the rest of the month.
Findings from the Report
The data shows that this policy works:
- The number of players who went over the monthly deposit limits has gone down from 9.7% to 2.2%.
- The number of young adults who did this went from 12% to just 1.9%.
Big Drop in Losses
One of the biggest effects of the new restrictions is that the average monthly losses per player account have gone down by 31%, from €116 to €80. This drop means that not only are fewer players spending too much money, but also that players are acting in a way that is more responsible when they gamble.
The average number of gaming accounts per player stays the same at 2.4, which is a good sign that gamers are not trying to break the regulations by signing up with more than one operator. This shows that the adjustments to the policy not only work, but they also can't be worked around.
Legal Market Stable, But Illegal Sites Drawing Attention
The changes have had an effect on the gross gaming revenue (GGR) of licensed operators, which declined by 8% from the year before. It looks like this is because high-risk players are losing less money—only 1% of players are losing more than €1,000 a month, down from 4%—not because unlicensed sites are taking a lot of market share.
Even still, the KSA is worried about the rise in search volume for the top 100 illicit gambling sites. This could mean that more people are interested in the black market. The regulator is keeping a careful eye on the situation, even if 93% of gamers still mainly use licensed operators. The impending July review of the gambling tax hike, which is almost done, will have a more extensive breakdown of channelisation by monetary value.
Dealing with Gambling Influencers
In a related move, the KSA is cracking down harder on restrictions against advertising gambling, particularly on social media. The regulator has given its first penalty order with a periodic fine to an influencer named LeftlanePapi for regularly promoting unlawful gambling content on YouTube. This is a big deal.
The influencer had streamed live games with illicit operators and told his viewers, many of whom were kids or young people, to do the same. The KSA sent LeftlanePapi an official warning, but he didn't take down the footage and even put up more broadcasts. Because of this, the KSA issued a binding order that required the content to be taken down right away and banned any future marketing.
If LeftlanePapi breaks the ruling, they will have to pay a penalty of €25,000 for each violation, up to a total of €75,000.
This is part of the KSA's two-track program for enforcing the law. When the regulator finds a breach, they give the influencers 48 hours to comply and take down all illegal content. If they don't, the KSA gets in touch with the social media sites directly to get the detrimental content taken down, and fines are also imposed.
Under this tighter approach, some influencers have already been warned, and the KSA has said it would keep focusing on enforcement in this area because young people are at greater danger.
Seeking a Fair Model
More and more people think that the Dutch way of regulating online gambling is a good way to safeguard players and keep the sector going. The KSA is doing its job of protecting customers and keeping the legal market honest by keeping an eye on advertising and influencer behaviour, as well as showing that there are fewer dramatic losses and a stable player base.
But the regulator isn't happy with the situation. Even if it's only a small amount right now, the rise of the illegal market is a problem that keeps coming up. The KSA has promised to keep a close eye on things and will share more information in its July report on the wider economic effects of gambling laws and taxes.
In the meantime, operators, influencers, and media platforms are being told that compliance is not optional and that enforcement will only get harder in the coming months.
