Netherlands regulates its online gambling market

The Netherlands as of today, October 1, 2021 has officially opened its regulated online gambling market, allowing local players to place legal online sports bets. Holland Casino and the Dutch Lottery, operating the Staatsloterij and Lotto, were the first companies that received licenses from the Dutch gambling authority to legally offer online gambling.

Who will the Dutch First-Movers Be?

For the time being, 10 companies in total have acquired licenses to legally operate online in the country. Namely, Bet365, UK-based bingo operator Tombola, Malta and Estonia licensed Play North Limited, the Belgian brand Bingoal, Janshen-Hahnraths Group with FPO Netherlands, the Italy-based Betent, NSUS Malta which runs the GGPoker.eu brand and sports media and betting business LiveScore Malta are the ones apart from Holland Casino and the Dutch Lottery.

However, many large international online gambling companies still have to wait for a license to legally operate in the Netherlands.

Rene Jansen, the chairman of the Dutch regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), stated: “Today, an important step has been taken with the opening of the legal market for online games of chance. Recent years have shown that simply banning online gambling was no longer possible. Legalisation and regulation make it easier to protect consumers against abuses.”

Almost 1.5 million people are actively gambling online in the country according to a recent research. The market has an estimated value of €800 million. The Dutch regulatory authority will take disciplinary action on any operator that is willing to offer gaming services without a licence.