A perfect copy of Staatsloterij spotted
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11 Aug 2025 •
Reading time: 2 minutes While searching for ‘online casino Nederland’, Frank Kruit, a web visibility expert, came across an intriguing advertisement: a link to ‘staatssloterij.nl’, with an extra ‘s’. The site looked official, so he clicked on it.
The deception revealed
What he discovers stops him in his tracks: a page listing illegal, unauthorised online casinos that are not subject to regulations or the CRUKS system.
Later, when revisiting the site, Kruit notices that it has been transformed: this time, he sees a perfect replica of the official site. Same text, images, layout… Everything is cloned, except the URL. This scam exploits two fraudulent techniques: typosquatting (an almost identical domain name) and cloaking, displaying different content depending on the visitor.
The Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch gambling regulator, has been warning for some time about the misuse of legal lottery brands to deceive consumers. Similar cases have been observed: fake websites, fake calls, fake emails or adverts… often in clear Dutch, with authentic names and logos to reinforce trust, to the point of pushing victims to share personal data or pay for a so-called reward.
How can you protect yourself?
To avoid this trap, vigilance remains the best defence. Always check the exact URL, without any extra letters. If in doubt, take a moment to compare it with the official website of the Nederlandse Loterij, check the licence with the Kansspelautoriteit, and never give personal or financial details to a suspicious website.