Protection Measures May Have Hurt Channeling, Dutch Gambling Figures Suggest

(AsiaGameHub) –   The Netherlands’ gambling authority has released its most recent findings.

The Netherlands.- According to the Dutch gambling regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the count of licensed operators, active players, and the rate of player channelling held steady during the latter half of 2025 relative to the preceding six-month period. Nonetheless, there are worries regarding expenditure on unlicensed gambling sites.

The gross gaming revenue for the second half of 2025 reached €602m, a marginal increase of €2m from the prior period. Monthly active gaming accounts climbed from 1.29 million to 1.38 million. The KSA attributed this rise to the implementation of a net deposit limit in October 2024, which caps the amount a player can wager per account without needing to disclose income information.

Since a single individual can hold several accounts, the actual number of players is fewer than the account total. The KSA approximates that around 500,000 people gambled monthly in the last six months of 2025.

The KSA estimates that about 91 per cent of Dutch gamblers used only legal providers, indicating a stable channelling rate. However, when measured by monetary value, this channelling rate drops considerably to 53 per cent.

The regulator suggested the drop in monetary channelling might also be a consequence of new player protection rules. The average monthly loss per player has fallen since safeguards were introduced but saw a slight uptick in the second half of 2025 compared to the start of the year.

The average monthly loss was €117 per player at the beginning of 2025, rising to €124 by year’s end. This calculation considers that players often use multiple providers and may not gamble every month.

KSA chairman’s analysis

In a blog post on the KSA website, chairman Michel Groothuizen stated: “Research indicates the worldwide share of the illegal market is expanding, a trend observed in other European nations too. Factors like various technological advances (including AI) and trends such as cryptocurrency gambling are contributors.

“In the Netherlands, this pattern might also stem from the protective measures we’ve enacted for players at legal operators, like the previously mentioned deposit limits. Whereas half a year ago we hadn’t observed that per-provider deposit limits caused multiple account creation, we now note a slight increase in accounts per player.

“It is therefore plausible that the financial capacity check triggered after a certain deposit threshold incentivizes people to open another legal account with a different provider to avoid the check, or to move completely to illegal options.”

Groothuizen also discussed potential legal amendments to close the deposit limit loophole.

He remarked: “There is significant political will to fight the bypassing of provider-specific deposit limits by implementing a universal gambling limit. This would eliminate hopping between various legal operators. Naturally, this won’t prevent players from moving to illegal gambling.

“Thankfully, a large portion of the Dutch public appears to prefer legal gambling, so the number of switchers might be less than anticipated. This will certainly be influenced by the level set for such a universal limit. It also implies we must maintain the visibility of the legal market to players (thus, no complete advertising prohibition), while simultaneously enhancing efforts to combat the illegal market.”

Groothuizen also expressed concern about gambling among young adults. Individuals aged 18 to 24 represented 22 per cent of active accounts in the latter half of 2025, although they constitute just 9.3 per cent of the adult population. On average, however, their losses per account were lower than older adults, at €34 monthly versus €73. Young adults also show a relative preference for sports betting compared to the overall player base.