The Ksa wins its legal battle against two lotteries 

The Dutch courts have upheld the Ksa’s position in its dispute with the National Postcode Lottery and the Friends’ Lottery. At the heart of the case: games offered online in 2023 that gave access to an additional draw. The Amsterdam court ruled that this mechanism constituted a remote game of chance for which the two lotteries did not hold the required authorisation. 

A simple online game that changes the nature of the lottery 

In 2023, the National Postcode Lottery and the Friends’ Lottery offered their participants games accessible online. Every day, players received one free credit for each ticket held. 

This credit could be used to play a game. At the end of this process, the participant received a lottery number which automatically entitled them to take part in an additional draw held each week. 

It was the combination of these different stages that caught the attention of the Kansspelautoriteit. In the Ksa’s view, the small digital game and the weekly draw should not be examined separately: they formed a single mechanism. 

Having examined how the offer worked, the Ksa had concluded that the games and the supplementary draw together constituted an online game of chance. The issue was therefore a legal one: the lotteries in question did not hold a licence allowing them to offer such a game of chance online. On 15 May 2023, the regulator therefore imposed a measure on the two organisations, accompanied by a penalty payment. 

The lotteries did indeed withdraw the games in question. However, they did not accept the regulator’s legal analysis. After challenging the Ksa’s decisions, they ultimately took the dispute to court. 

The court considers the game and the draw to be inseparable 

In its ruling published on Wednesday 12 August 2026, the Amsterdam court followed the reasoning put forward by the Ksa. In the judges’ view, the link between the online game and the supplementary draw is sufficiently direct for them to be regarded as a single entity. 

One factor carried particular weight in this analysis: a participant could not access the supplementary draw without starting the game. According to the court, this condition creates a link between the two mechanisms. Participation in the draw was therefore not simply independent of the game offered online. 

The fact that a user can trigger the process without actually playing the game is not considered decisive. Similarly, the judges do not regard as decisive the fact that the outcome of the game has no influence on the result of the lottery draw. 

The analysis focuses more on the overall structure of the scheme than on the influence of the game on the chances of winning. The court held that the very inclusion of a gambling element in the process for obtaining a ticket exceeded what was permitted. 

The online allocation of a number remains possible, but subject to conditions 

Both lotteries considered that they were authorised, within the framework of their licensed lotteries, to issue tickets remotely. They relied on the rules governing remote games of chance to support this interpretation. 

According to the judges, in the case of a lottery, what may be carried out remotely is limited to the provision of the entry ticket. The authorisation does not permit the free addition of other mechanisms, in particular a gambling element. 

However, in the system under consideration, it was not merely a matter of digitally assigning a lottery number to a participant. When the participant pressed the button to start, a game was also initiated. This feature is significant, particularly as the lotteries themselves had stated that the purpose of these games was to make their lottery more attractive. 

The measures taken by the Ksa were justified 

After considering the arguments of the parties, the court concluded that both lotteries had breached Dutch legislation on games of chance. The Ksa was therefore entitled to intervene. 

The measures, accompanied by a penalty payment, imposed in May 2023 were deemed justified. The court also rejected the argument that the regulator’s decisions had been insufficiently reasoned. 

The case may yet see a new chapter 

Both lotteries still have the option to appeal. They may lodge an appeal within six weeks with the Administrative Law Division of the Dutch Council of State. 

Any appeal proceedings could therefore lead to a fresh examination of the interpretation adopted.