New data has shown just 10% of those aged 16 and over in the Netherlands have gambled online in the last 12 months.
On Wednesday (29 January), the Scientific Research and Data Centre (WODC) in the Netherlands released a factsheet unveiling the findings of three recent studies on Dutch online gambling, which launched in the country in October 2021.
The studies, which cover various periods during 2024, revealed that while 64% of those aged 16 and over in the Netherlands have gambled offline throughout 2024, just one in 10 had placed a bet online.
Lotteries were the predominant form of offline gambling, with 55% of the gambling population using that vertical in 2024, while scratchcards (21%) and bingo (7%) were also prevalent.
Notably, sports betting was the only vertical in which online outpaced land-based, with 4% betting online compared to 3% for offline.
Dutch online gambling rising in popularity
The WODC said 70% of those who had bet online in 2024, had started doing so once the market went live on 1 October 2021.
With online betting particularly prominent among younger people, the WODC warned its rise could lead to problems such as addiction with that demographic particularly vulnerable.
This is supported by its latest studies, which found that while just 1% of all gamblers (including lotteries) in the Netherlands were considered high risk, this number rocketed to 18% for young adult online gamblers that operate their own personal account.
Additionally, 11% of all online gamblers with personal accounts were considered high risk, with 10% categorised as moderate risk on the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), which is widely used across the industry to determine how problematic gamblers’ behaviours are.
The WODC warned that current policies in place in the Netherlands put a lot of responsibility on players to control their own gambling, which could prove problematic for younger people who are at higher risk of addiction.
WODC makes recommendations to improve Netherlands regulations
The WODC believes the current measures to prevent gambling addiction in the Netherlands are “inadequate”, which it says is worrisome considering the wave of new players.
Just 24% of online gamblers were been informed about their gambling behaviour via an on-screen pop-up in 2024, this dropped to 9% via chat or email.
Notably, just 4% had temporarily excluded themselves from participating in gambling, while only 3% had registered for an involuntary ban. The WODC found most problem gamblers hadn’t heard of available tools such as Cruks, the Netherlands’ national self-exclusion scheme.
In response, the WODC offered five “urgent” recommendations to improve the regulation of online gambling in the Netherlands.
The first involves centralising the duty of care and not leaving it to the sector, while the second focuses on making player data available for independent research with the objective of boosting addiction prevention.
Additionally, the WODC also recommends increasing the powers of the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the regulator of gambling in the Netherlands, enabling it to better supervise legal operators.
In terms of the illegal market, the WODC is keen to see more restrictions on unlicensed operators.
Finally, the WODC is calling for enhanced protection of vulnerable groups such as young adults, particularly from gambling advertising. Part of this includes broadening the message from “preventing gambling addiction” to “preventing gambling harm”, to ensure all negative consequences from gambling are identified.
