Bottle and can deposits become a lottery in the Netherlands
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16 Sep 2026 •
Reading time: 3 minutes
Since 15 August 2026, Dutch consumers have been able to use the money they get back from returning their bottles and cans to buy lottery tickets for €0.25. It’s an unusual scheme that combines recycling, behavioural incentives and gambling, with a maximum net prize of €10,000.
A simple choice: keep 25 cents or try your luck
What to do with the 25 cents you get back after returning a bottle or can with a deposit? In the Netherlands, a new option is now available: turning this amount into a lottery ticket. Consumers can keep their money, save it in their digital wallet or use it to take part in a monthly lottery. For every 0.25 euro, they can buy one ticket.
Up to 10,000 euros net to be won
The largest prize announced is 10,000 euros net.
But that’s not the only one. There are several prize tiers, with amounts of 1,000 euros, 500 euros, 250 euros, 50 euros, 25 euros, 10 euros and 5 euros.
The exact details of the prizes are to be announced before each draw.
The total value of prizes allocated for a draw is not automatically adjusted according to the number of tickets sold. The advertised prizes must therefore be awarded even when the number of tickets sold is relatively low.
Why the number of participants will be decisive
At present, no fixed odds such as ‘one in a hundred’ are advertised.
The reason is simple: winners are drawn from among the tickets actually sold. The probability therefore depends both on the number of tickets in circulation and on the number of prizes available for the draw in question.
If 100,000 tickets are entered, the odds are obviously not the same as if one million tickets were registered.
Buying multiple tickets also increases the number of entries in the draw. Someone with 100 tickets has 100 entries, compared with just one for someone who has bought only one.
A lottery designed to encourage the return of packaging
The Netherlands has set a target of collecting 90 per cent of the relevant plastic drinks bottles and cans. However, this target has not been met.
In light of this situation, various measures have been considered, including a possible increase in the deposit amount.
The lottery ultimately represents a different kind of solution: rather than simply increasing the amount refunded, it seeks to make returning packaging more attractive by offering the chance to win a larger prize.
At least 40 per cent of the proceeds go to charities
The money spent on tickets is not used solely to fund the prizes. At least 40 per cent of the proceeds are earmarked for organisations working to combat plastic pollution and litter.
Two organisations are specifically mentioned: the Plastic Whale Foundation and the Plastic Soup Foundation.
A scheme initially planned to run for six months
The programme is currently set to run for six months, with one draw each month. This timeframe also gives it an experimental dimension.
The real challenge goes beyond the number of winners. Above all, it will be necessary to determine whether the prospect of a potential reward actually encourages more consumers to return their bottles and cans.
An appealing idea, but still difficult to implement
Conceptually, the scheme is relatively simple: it uses the prospect of a financial reward to make returning packaging more appealing, whilst channelling at least 40 per cent of the revenue to organisations working to combat plastic pollution.
In practice, its main weakness at present appears to be the limited number of machines capable of transferring the deposit directly to the app. Without this transfer, it is impossible to use the refund to buy a ticket. The programme’s success will therefore likely depend as much on technical accessibility as on the appeal of the €10,000 prize.