Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) chair Michel Groothuizen has blamed regulatory measures introduced in the past two years for the legal market “stagnating” and said the amount of money “disappearing into the pockets of illegal providers” is increasing.
In its Spring 2026 monitoring report, the KSA reported gross gambling revenue (GGR) for the second half of 2025 was €602m (£524m), just a 0.3% increase from the €600m reported in H1 but down 18% when compared to 2024.
GGR per month was “stable” at approximately €100m.
The Netherlands has one of the highest tax rates in the world after the rate jumped from 30.5% to 34.2% in January 2025, before increasing to 37.8% in January.
Meanwhile, there are net deposit thresholds of €700 a month for over 25s and €300 per month for 18- to 24-year-olds, while marketing restrictions mean operators can no longer sponsor athletes, teams, sporting attire and competitions from last July.
The report found the number of player accounts per month grew from 1.29 million in H1 2025 to 1.38 million in H2, with the regulator pointing to the introduction of the net deposit limit in October 2024 as the likely cause.
This reduces the amount players to bet less per account without having to share income data, the regulator noted.
The KSA estimated that in the second half of 2025, 500,000 people gambled online per month.
Average player’s monthly loss increased to from €117 to €124, though the regulator pointed out this figure was down since the introduction of the protective measures.
Players aged 18 to 24 made up 22% of the accounts that bet in the second half of 2025, despite accounting for 9.3% of the population. On average, they lost €34 per month compared to over 25s (€73).
Of the population that gambles, 91% do so only with legal operators, with the KSA remarking that that form of channelisation has “remained stable in recent years”.
However, channelling in terms of money is “significantly lower” at 53%, with player protection rules the likely reason.
“The KSA suspects that players suffer much higher losses at illegal parties than at legal parties, because they are less protected there, or even not protected at all,” the report stated.
The regulator also noted that due to a correction to the figures from the previous report, 53% is higher than the 49% estimate in the previous report.
“This means that almost half of what is gambled in the Netherlands appears to be going to illegal parties”, Groothuizen commented.
He also said: “Regarding the development of the licensed online gambling market: it is stagnating, so the legal market remains at the same level as six months earlier.
“The number of licence holders, the turnover they have made, the number of players and the degree of channelisation are all very similar to those in the report at the end of last year.
“This perpetuates the turnaround that started with our own policy measures in 2024, in particular the deposit limits, and the increase in gambling tax in 2025.”
On the black market and the impact regulatory changes have made to the legal space, he added: “Studies show that the global share of the illegal market is growing, and we also see this in other European countries.
“Various technological developments (including AI) and phenomena such as crypto gambling contribute to this. In the Netherlands, this trend may also be due to the various measures we have taken ourselves to better protect players with legal parties, such as the deposit limits already mentioned.
“Where six months ago we did not see that setting a deposit limit per provider led to the creation of multiple accounts, we now see that the number of accounts per player is increasing slightly.
“It may therefore be that the check on financial support that takes place from a certain amount encourages people to create a legal account elsewhere to bypass that check, or to switch completely to illegal offers.”
Earlier this month, the KSA issued a directive to Unibet over anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing violations.
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Michel Groothuizen points to deposit limits, tax hikes and leakage to the black market as to why GGR increased 0.3% to €602m in H2 2025 but slumped 18% compared with 2024
The post Dutch market “stagnating” due to regulatory restrictions, warns KSA chair first appeared on EGR Intel.