Dutch gov’t plans complete ban on online gambling advertising

The Dutch government is planning another wave of restrictions on online gambling, targeting advertising, deposits, and the illegal market.

This builds on a series of regulatory changes over the four years since the 2021 Remote Gaming Act (KOA) was adopted, notably including a significant rollback of advertising.

Advertising will now be completely banned if State Secretary for Legal Protection Claudia van Bruggen’s proposals are given the green light by the House of Representatives.

Heading up the Cabinet’s approach to minimising gambling harm, van Burggen has proposed the following measures:

• A total ban on online gambling advertising
• A total ban on bonuses such as free bets when creating an account
• Creating an overarching deposit limit for online gambling
• Further enhancing the CRUKS self-exclusion system
• Clamping down on illegal activity

“I find it particularly concerning that more and more people, and especially young people, have started gambling online and are getting into trouble as a result,” said van Bruggen.

“It is high time to reverse this trend.”

The government is moving to put these plans into a legislative proposal, while van Bruggen also works on a ‘Multi Year Agenda for Protection against Gambling Damage”.

This agenda will include raising awareness among gamblers, combating what the government calls a “normalisation of gambling”, cultivating a safer gambling environment, facilitating early detection of gambling harm and creating better access to help for problem gamblers.

“With the proposed measures, I am taking an important step to better protect people against the negative effects of gambling, such as addiction and debt,” van Burggen continued.

“Special attention is being paid to young people and young adults because they are particularly vulnerable to the risks of gambling.”

An end to advertising

Advertising has been a hot button topic in the regulatory discussions around Dutch gambling ever since the KOA Act ushered in a new era of online betting in the country back in October 2021.

Initially launching with 10 licensed operators, the market grew to over 30 by 2024. This growth was accompanied by a lot of advertising as operators fought it out for market share, advertising that many Dutch consumers weren’t used to seeing.

In 2022, the Dutch government approved a ban on the use of ‘role models’ like active and former footballers, celebrities, and social media personalities in gambling adverts.

This was followed by a ban on ‘untargeted advertising’ across TV, radio, social media, in print, and in public places on 1 July 2023. On 1 July 2025, a total ban on sports sponsorship came into effect.

Policymakers have been calling for the ban to be extended to a blanket one for some time, with opposition party leaders making this case earlier this year. The government has now decided to pull the trigger.

Deposit limits

The legislative charge led by van Bruggen will aim to implement overarching deposit limits for online gambling, where players will need to prove that they are of sound financial standing if they want to increase their initial limits.

This assessment would include a background check on whether the player making the request is either under guardianship or financial oversight by a third party, or has prior defaulted payments – although the government’s statement came short of calling these credit checks. A testing mechanism is currently being developed, the announcement further stated.

And while it might seem draconian at first, van Bruggen’s overarching cap on deposits will only expand a previous deposit limit measure already rolled out during Franc Weerwind’s time as a Legal Secretary in 2024.

Under Weerwind’s leadership, the government introduced player loss limits of €150 for players aged 18 to 23, and €350 for everyone aged 24 and over.

According to the gambling regulator, Kannspelautoriteit (KSA), Weerwind’s measures did their job of protecting players effectively, with the KSA confirming in 2025 that requests for setting higher deposit limits dropped below 50% of the total player base on the licensed market.

Not only that, but there’s already active affordability checks in place for monthly deposits over €300 and €700 for the relevant age groups, which failure to comply with leads to a mandatory monthly block by the used operator.

Again, the KSA also confirmed not so long ago that the above has led to an overall drop in players going over their monthly deposit allowance, from 9.7% to 2.2%. Player losses were also said to have dropped – from €116 per month in the eight months prior to the limits’ introduction, to €80 per month in the eight months after, down 31%.

Still, van Bruggen apparently sees a gap that needs to be addressed through even stricter controls. One thing she and her team need to be aware of, however, is that all those drops in losses and higher deposit requests could also mean that players are turning to the black market because the restrictions are already too unbearable.

Self exclusion

The government is also focused on upgrading the nationwide CRUKS self-exclusion system, which was already updated in April this year to simplify the process for third-parties to register problem gamblers.

Van Bruggen and the cabinet want to make CRUKS even more accessible by making it possible for people to register for an indefinite period without deregistration – effectively meaning permanent self-exclusion from the system.

Policymakers also want to see CRUKS made easier to use for administrators or family members, and for there to be more coordination between care services and the self-exclusion system.

While taxation and clampdowns on advertising have been met with a strong backlash from the industry, there is little doubt among many that CRUKS has been a solid Dutch success story according to some observers.

However, for the legal industry there is one topic that is constantly on the agenda.

And last but not least….

One of the biggest criticisms of the Netherlands’ regulatory trajectory since 2021 has been that the government’s measures have benefited the black market more than benefiting consumers.

According to the KSA itself, the legal gambling market’s share of gross gaming revenues (GGR) fell to around 49% in early 2025. Last year, trade bodies estimated that the black market accounted for around 25% of Dutch gambling activity.

Stakeholders have largely blamed taxes -currently at 37.8% of GGR – which have led to self-preservation measures that have put customers off, and advertising restrictions hindering their ability to compete with illegal operators.

The cabinet has now set tackling the black market as a key priority, having taken note of ‘tens of thousands of illegal gambling sites’ actively targeting Dutch customers.

The government’s plans amount to blocking illegal websites and developing “clear legal standards for parties that facilitate illegal offerings, such as payment service providers or hosting companies”.

Recent years have seen the KSA issue fines and enforcement actions against illegal operators on numerous occasions. 

Collecting these fines from companies which are not licensed or registered in the Netherlands is not a clear cut task, however, so targeting the payment providers that enable them is a logical next step.

For the regulated industry, however, it may appear that the government is wielding a double edged sword – one that is slashing at the illegal market through payments blocking, but also slashing at the legal one via a blanket ban on advertising and bonuses.

Author credit shared with Viktor Kayed