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The Netherlands will raise the minimum age of some gambling to 21, step up its fight against illegal websites and introduce shared-operator affordability, a senior minister has announced.
In response to a scheduled review of the Dutch gambling act, which liberalised the market in 2021, the minister for legal protection, Teun Struycken, has outlined a series of amendments the government expects to adopt by the end of 2025.
The announcements come at a time of intense political pressure on the gambling industry, with its reputation at an all time low and several parties calling for the law to be overturned in its entirety.
Struycken has resisted those calls, instead opting to reset expectations around what Dutch gambling law is trying to achieve.
What may prove to be the most significant change is an update on the “vision” of the gambling act.
Instead of aiming to limit problem gambling, government policy will now be to “protect all citizens from gambling-related harm”.
“For me, the most important starting point is protecting all citizens from gambling-related harm. In doing so, I go beyond preventing addiction and also look at other harm that participation in gambling can cause, such as debts,” the minister said.
This change in thinking was reflected by Struycken’s announcement that “advertising rules will be adjusted to severely limit the appeal of online gambling”. Specific details on this and other policies announced by the minister will follow later this year, he said.
“It is necessary to protect all people, especially those who have not yet come into contact with gambling or who have stopped gambling. In doing so, I focus in particular on minors and young adults,” Struycken added.
Among the specific policy changes announced by the minister was a plan to raise the legal age of gambling from 18 to 21 for the “riskiest games of chance”.
In later comments to journalists, Struycken admitted that the government did not yet have a clear concept of what the riskiest types of gambling were, although he insisted that online poses a greater risk of harm than land-based gambling.
Research internationally has tended to suggest that online casino games are significantly riskier than sports betting. Struycken said that research was underway to establish a Dutch model of gambling product risk.
He also told reporters that there will be significant technical hurdles to overcome in introducing a market-wide affordability scheme.
In his announcement, Struycken said that the government would mandate an “overarching deposit limit with a financial capacity test”.
The mention of a financial test suggests the policy will mirror a similar requirement introduced in October, which mandates individual operators to enforce soft deposit limits that can be lifted after an affordability check.
The government also promised measures to combat the Dutch black market, which Struycken said was too large.
That will include more enforcement powers for the Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA), including additional powers to block infringing websites.
Representatives of the online industry greeted the announcement with caution, but welcomed plans to toughen up action against the offshore market.
Eric Konings, the acting director of the Netherlands Online Gambling Association, said: “We are pleased to hear that combating illegal supply is given greater priority.
“We have been expressing our concern about the size of the illegal market for some time now, and the figures published today by the Gaming Authority show that of every euro gambled in the Netherlands, half is now wagered with illegal providers.
“The regulator indicates that it needs more resources to take a stand against this, and we hope that they will get them.”
However, Konings warned that raising the legal gambling age to 21 for some products risked further emboldening the black market.
An amendment bill to introduce the planned changes will be presented before the end of 2025, the minister said.
