Dutch gambling crackdown backfires as players flee to illegal sites
Stricter gambling rules in the Netherlands have led to a drop in high losses at legal sites. But the crackdown may be pushing players toward unlicensed platforms instead. Data shows a sharp rise in visits to illegal gambling websites since new deposit limits were introduced last October. In October 2022, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) rolled out tougher player protection measures. These included monthly deposit caps—€300 for players aged 18 to 25 and a €777 limit for others, unless they provided proof of income. The changes worked: the share of players losing over €1,000 a month at licensed sites fell from 4% to just 1%. Overall losses at legal operators also dropped from 60% to 50%.
Yet the restrictions appear to have had an unintended effect. Traffic to illegal gambling sites has surged. Visits jumped from 172,576 in October 2022 to 412,997 by February 2023, passing one million by early March. Searches for terms like 'casino without limits' or 'casino without Cruks' (the Dutch self-exclusion register) have also spiked.
The number of illegal gambling domains has grown rapidly too. From just 19 in October 2022, the figure reached 72 by March 2023. A report from KVA, a gambling research group, found that seven unlicensed sites had even broken into the top-10 search results for common Dutch gambling terms by March 2024. The KSA's tighter rules have cut excessive gambling at legal providers. But the shift toward unregulated platforms raises new concerns. With more players bypassing licensed sites, authorities now face the challenge of curbing illegal gambling growth.
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