Netherlands — Gambling Regulation

The Remote Gambling Act (KOA) opened the licensed online market on October 1, 2021 under the KSA, with Cruks self-exclusion, strict duty-of-care rules and a gambling tax climbing in two legislated steps to 37.8%.

Legal status by vertical

KOA: licensed late, regulated hard

The Netherlands opened its licensed online market on October 1, 2021, under the Wet kansspelen op afstand (KOA), in force since April 1 of that year, with the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) as regulator. The Dutch design philosophy showed immediately: every licensee must check Cruks, the national self-exclusion register, on every single login — not at registration, at login.

The screws then turned in annual increments. Untargeted gambling advertising has been banned since July 2023. Statutory deposit limits arrived in October 2024 — €700 per month by default, €300 for players under 25. KSA enforcement reaches beyond operators to their suppliers, with B2B sanctions against platforms serving unlicensed sites.

The 37.8% question

The gambling tax is the sharpest instrument: legislated in two steps from 30.5% to 34.2% in 2025 and to 37.8% from January 1, 2026, plus a 1.95% gambling levy. That is the highest headline rate of any open licensed market in Europe.

The Netherlands now runs, from the high-tax end, the same experiment Germany runs from the product-restriction end: how much regulatory friction a licensed market can carry before players drift back offshore. The fiscal results after the 2025 increase — a tax take below projections — are the first data points, and the change tracker logs each one as it lands. Lotteries remain with the incumbent-licensed Nederlandse Loterij.

Key facts

• KOA Act in force April 1, 2021; market opened October 1, 2021
• Cruks is the national self-exclusion register, checked on every login
• KSA enforcement includes B2B sanctions against suppliers serving unlicensed sites

Frequently asked questions