The Netherlands is currently planning an extensive overhaul of its online gambling legislation. The central element of the planned revision would ban advertising for online gambling. In addition, the Dutch government wants to stop operators from offering bonuses, including free bets used to attract new players.
Cabinet Targets the Main Acquisition Tools
The measures still need to be worked into a bill. The plan comes almost five years after the regulated online gambling market opened in October 2021. The original aim was to bring players into a licensed environment, where operators must follow consumer-protection rules.
The proposal was announced by State Secretary for Justice and Security Claudia van Bruggen. The concerns are mostly associated with young people and young adults. According to the government, previous advertising restrictions did not work well because many people have access to online gambling advertisements despite not being interested in looking for such information.
Deposit Limits Would Cover the Whole Market
The proposal is not confined to marketing alone. It includes having a single cross-operator deposit limit for online gambling accounts.
This would be a big shift from provider-specific ceilings. Players would no longer be able to set separate high limits across several gambling sites. If players want to raise the limit, they would first have to pass an affordability check.
The check would look at financial risk signals. Among those would be late payments, debt management, guardianship, and the overall financial status of the gambler.
From the operator’s point of view, this would mean moving responsible gambling checks closer to a shared market-wide system. From the gambler’s perspective, the gap between formal restrictions and real expenditures would be minimized.
Cruks and Illegal Sites Get More Attention
The government also wants to introduce some changes in the case of Cruks, which is the Dutch self-exclusion register. These changes would allow for voluntary inclusion for an indefinite period automatic removal from the list. Third parties (such as family members or administrators) would also have an easier route to request registration.
Stopping illegal gambling will be a difficult task. The government says tens of thousands of illegal gambling sites are active in the Netherlands. These sites do not provide the safeguards required in the licensed market and do not refer players to help services.
Measures under consideration include website blocking. The introduction of clearer legal standards for companies that support illegal gambling supply (including payment and hosting providers) is also under discussion.
A Tighter Market, but Not a Closed One
Legalisation of online gambling in the Netherlands is not being repealed. The government is still working on keeping players within the licensed environment. This is why the proposal focuses on reducing advertising exposure, limiting deposits, and making illegal access harder.
The commercial impact could still be heavy. Operators would lose two major acquisition tools: advertising and bonuses. Media buyers and affiliates would find the compliance period shorter, especially if legal traffic channels narrow further.
Bottom Line
The Dutch market is moving from channelisation through promotion to channelisation through control. That is a risky balance. If legal operators become less visible, illegal sites may fill part of the gap. The success of the reform will depend less on the ad ban itself and more on whether deposit checks, Cruks changes, and enforcement against offshore sites can work at the same time.
