Casinoscout.nl no longer visible in the Netherlands: what’s going on?
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15 May 2025 •
Reading time: 2 minutes “This page is not accessible to residents of the Netherlands.” This is the message that visitors have recently been seeing when they try to open Casinoscout.nl from the Netherlands.
This used to be one of the largest Dutch websites for information about online casinos. Now it seems to have gone in a completely different direction. What exactly happened here?
From legal guide to shady gambling passage
Until recently, Casinoscout.nl was known as a reliable source for people looking for legal online casinos in the Netherlands. Everything was neat: they worked with recognized providers, were on the list of the Keurmerk Verantwoorde Affiliates (KVA), and they had even taken a fine from the Kansspelautoriteit seriously at one point.
But then came January 10, 2025.
On that date, the site, along with a number of associated domain names, was sold. To whom? Not entirely clear, although an email mentions the British companies SBM Holding Group and JEF Holding Ltd. Everything has changed since that takeover.
Away with Cruks, hello ‘Telegram Casinos’
The homepage suddenly looks very different. No more neat overview of recognized providers.
If you clicked through, you ended up on .com domains that refer to gambling sites without a Dutch license. In short: Casino Scout now promotes exactly what it was previously reprimanded for.
And yes, some pages even seem to have been written by an AI profile named “Jan Vermeer”, with a matching fake portrait.
CasinoScout slams the door on Dutch people
The site has now set up a blockade for Dutch visitors, with the following text:
“This website is exclusively intended to help Dutch-speaking people outside the Netherlands find suitable online casinos.”
A smart move? Perhaps. But above all a clear signal that they want to prevent the Kansspelautoriteit from showing up again with a penalty.
KVA is cleaning up its membership
The Keurmerk Verantwoorde Affiliates was quick to act. They immediately removed Casinoscout as a member. Steven Vrolijk, the man behind the quality mark, is short but powerful about it:
“If you deliberately refer to illegal providers, you confirm exactly the concerns we expressed earlier. The illegal sector is trying to lure Dutch players in by all means possible.”
And Casinoscout now seems to be going along with that.