Netherlands Gambling — Market entry in practice: How hard is entry, really?

After more than a decade of slow regulatory changes, the Netherlands Gambling Authority (NGA) was finally able to award licences for remote games of chance as of 1 April 2021. The very first licences were awarded at the end of September 2021, and at October 2026according to the website of the NGA, a total of thirty one remote gambling licences have been awarded. This is not the total number of remote gambling licences awarded since 2021, as several have been surrendered. Furthermore, a total of eight operators are now operating on the basis of their second licence. Licences for the very first market entrants, who commenced operation in October 2021, expired at the end of September 2026. All eight have been awarded licences for the full five-year period, with the validity of each commencing on 1 October 2026. The NGA is the national gambling regulator and therefore responsible for the issuing of licenses, supervision, and enforcement. In terms of a brief history lesson, on 19 February 2019, the Senate passed the Remote Gambling Act 2019 (“Wet kansspelen op afstand 2019, RGA”), which amended the Betting and Gaming Act (“Wet op de kansspelen, BGA”) and the Betting and Gaming Tax Act (“Wet op de kansspelbelasting, BGTA”), so as to enable the introduction of the licensing and regulatory regime. The BGA has always, and continues to, embody a ‘prohibited unless licensed’ approach. It is largely prohibited to offer games of chance without a licence (subject to some minor exceptions). Until the licensing and regulatory regime for remote gambling entered into force in April 2021, the NGA was not able to award licences for remote gambling and all such offerings which were available in the Netherlands were considered unlawful. Games which do not satisfy the definition of a game of chance fall outside the scope of the BGA. The definition of a game of chance has not been amended by the introduction of licensing for remote gambling. Under the new licensing regime, only a single licence type is available. This single licence type will cover up to four types of gambling, namely: - Casino games in which the players play against the licence holder (e.g., blackjack) - Casino games in which the players play against one another (e.g., poker) - Bets on events occurring during a sporting contest or on the outcome of a sporting contest - Bets on the outcome of horse racing and harness racing ## Market size According to the NGA’s spring 2026 monitoring report (Monitoringsrapportage online kansspelen voorjaar 2026), the NGA has established that for the second half of 2025, GGR amounted to EUR 602m, ever so slightly above that for the first six months of 2025, namely EUR 600m. . By far the largest market segment were casino games played against the house (78% of the market), followed by sports-betting (20%). In terms of the gambling population, 91% of those who participate in remote gambling do so only with locally licensed remote operators (with 95% engaging with a combination of locally licensed and illegal remote operators). However, only 53% of the market is captured by locally licensed operators, on the basis of GGR (down from 56% in the first half of 2025). The NGA’s report can be found at (Dutch only): https://kansspelautoriteit.nl/ons-onderzoek-0 An overview of licensed operators can be found on the NGA’s website at: https://kansspelautoriteit.nl/veilig-spelen/veilig-online-gokken/kansspelwijzer-online-gokken/ ## Attractions - Unlimited number of licences available ## Challenges High tax rate, although following the latest increase, on 1 January 2026, there has been no further talk of increasing the rate any further. The licence application process is demanding, although the NGA has been, to a degree, pragmatic in terms of designing the process for an entity’s second (i.e., renewal) application. Further regulatory change is on the horizon, which will further increase regulatory requirements and restrict advertising even more than at present. At present such changes are not expected to take effect before 2029.