Dutch licensed online gambling fell 21% in 2025, KSA says

Licensed online gambling in the Netherlands brought in €1.20 billion in gross gaming revenue in 2025, 21.0% less than in 2024 after adjusting for inflation. The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling regulator, published the figures on 29 October in its market scan for 2025, alongside a monitoring report on online gambling in the first half of 2026. The regulator says the 2025 drop is "at least partly" (its words: *in ieder geval ten dele*, our translation) down to the player-protection measures introduced in late 2024.

Gross gaming revenue (in Dutch, *brutospelresultaat* or BSR) is the money staked minus the prizes paid out. All the 2024 comparisons below are inflation-adjusted, as in the KSA's report.

The 2025 market scan

Across the whole licensed market, online and land-based, revenue fell from €4.5 billion in 2024 to €4.1 billion in 2025. Most of the decline came online:

• Online casino: €947 million, down 18.2% from €1.16 billion.
• Online betting: €254 million, down 30.2% from €364 million.
• Holland Casino: €683 million, up 2.8% from €664 million. The KSA says the rise came mainly from its gaming machines rather than table games.
• Machines in gaming halls and hospitality venues: down 4.7%. The number of gaming halls went from 197 to 194.
• Lotteries: down 1.8%.

Operators paid €1.05 billion in gambling tax in 2025.

The KSA gives several reasons for the online drop and does not rank them. Its news page names the player-protection measures introduced in late 2024, such as the net deposit limit, and the fact that the men's Euro 2024 football tournament pushed betting revenue up in 2024. The market scan, which dates the new duty-of-care rules to 1 October 2024, adds the gambling tax rise as a probable factor: the rate went from 30.5% to 34.2% during 2025 and to 37.8% on 1 January 2026.

The net deposit limit is €700 a month for players aged 24 and over and €300 for those aged 18 to 23. It can only be raised if the player shows they can afford it.

The first half of 2026

The monitoring report covers January to June 2026 and compares it with the second half of 2025.

• Revenue is up again. Licensed online revenue was about €670 million, roughly 11% more than the €602 million in the previous six months. Casino games against the house made up 73% (about €492 million) and sports betting 24% (about €163 million).
• More accounts per person. Players used an average of 1.48 million active accounts a month, up from 1.38 million. The number of people playing with licensed operators each month does not appear to have increased (*lijkt niet toegenomen*). The KSA puts it at about 490,000, an estimate from a small panel. About 820,000 people played at least once in the half-year.
• Losses per account unchanged, per-person estimate up. The average loss was €75 per account per month, and €34 for young adults, both unchanged from the previous period. The per-person estimate was €137 a month, up from €121. The KSA says these are estimates and that no firm conclusions can be drawn from them.

The KSA says the rise in accounts may partly reflect the men's World Cup, which started in June. It also says the growth in gambling with several accounts may mean that some people are trying to get around the deposit limits, which apply per account. The regulator presents that as a possible explanation, not a finding.

How much play stays licensed

The KSA measures channelisation, the share of gambling that goes to licensed operators, in two ways, and the two give very different answers.

By people, about 94% of those who gamble online do so only with licensed operators, or 97% if people who use both legal and illegal sites are counted as licensed players. By revenue, the KSA estimates the licensed share at 59% in the first half of 2026, up from 54% in the second half of 2025. The revenue-based figure is an estimate built partly on search data, shown as three-month averages.

The KSA's reading of the gap is that people who gamble illegally lose considerably more on average than people who play with licensed operators. The monitoring report also says there are no signs that the tighter rules have reduced the licensed share.

Harm figures

The number of people in treatment with gambling as their main addiction problem was 3,108 in 2025, more than 14% higher than in 2024 (2,708). An Ipsos survey for the KSA in spring 2026 put the share of online gamblers without problem gambling at 65%, the same as in 2025. The high-risk share was unchanged at 9%; the low-risk group grew from 15% to 18% and the moderate-risk group shrank from 11% to 9%. On 31 July 2026, 120,200 people were registered in Cruks, the Dutch national self-exclusion register.

Our reading

In our reading, the 2025 figures show a licensed online market that got smaller after the deposit limits and the tax rise, and the KSA does not separate how much each one contributed. The first half of 2026 shows revenue growing again, more accounts per player and a larger licensed share of revenue. The account growth is the part to watch. The KSA says it possibly means some people are trying to get around the per-account limits by using more accounts, and it presents that as a possible explanation, not a finding.

For other Dutch regulatory news, see the KSA's eight online licence renewals, its record fine and the rule on deposits and wagering before withdrawal. Britain's regulator looked at licensed and illegal play from a different angle in its open banking study.

For readers outside the Netherlands: all figures here cover the Dutch licensed market only.