Get 125% / $2,500 on 1st deposit!
New players only. Exclusive Welcome Bonus of up to $2,500
The Dutch online gambling market has crossed a line regulators did not want to see. Illegal operators now take a bigger share of gambling revenue than licensed companies, and KSA says player protection rules are helping drive more spend away from the regulated market.
Good to Know
KSA said the legal market is no longer leading by revenue. In the first half of 2025, licensed operators generated about €600 million in GGR, while the illegal online market reached roughly €617 million. That drop pushed channelisation by spend below 50%, a major setback for the Dutch model.
The regulator links much of the decline to tighter player protection rules and higher gambling taxes. Deposit caps introduced in October 2024 set limits at €700 for players older than 24 and €300 for those aged 18 to 24. KSA said those rules were meant to reduce harm, but players appear to be shifting part of their spend to unlicensed sites where those limits do not apply.
Legal activity did not collapse, but revenue stalled. Monthly player accounts reached 1.38 million in the second half of 2025, while licensed operator GGR was largely flat year on year at €602 million. In other words, people kept playing, but average losses per account fell and more money leaked out of the regulated system.
KSA also reported 2,005 illegal gambling complaints in 2025, up 34% from a year earlier. In response, it launched Project Disconnect, a broader enforcement effort aimed at cutting off the support systems behind unlicensed operators rather than chasing one site at a time. Early results included the near-removal of paid Google search ads for illegal gambling sites since August 2025 and takedowns of illegal .nl domains through SIDN.
Enforcement picked up on both sides of the market. KSA fined five licensed operators a combined €8.6 million in 2025, mostly over duty-of-care failings, and hit four illegal operators with €31.2 million in penalties. Even so, the regulator said current law caps fines at 10% of an operator global GGR, limiting how hard it can hit offshore companies. KSA is now talking with the Justice Ministry about changing that rule.
The fallout is also showing up in public finances. KSA reported an €11.1 million budget deficit for 2025, including a €5.3 million shortfall in gambling tax receipts linked to the lower legal spend after deposit limits came in.