The Dutch political party PVV withdrew from the coalition. PVV leader Geert Wilders immediately receives a wave of criticism.
On 2 June 2025, the Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa), the Dutch gambling regulator, issued an official warning to BetMGM. At issue was an advertisement on a well-known news website featuring 17-year-old football prodigy Lamine Yamal. The campaign breached Dutch legislation prohibiting the use of public figures in gambling advertisements, particularly when targeting vulnerable groups such as minors.
From 16 June 2025, the Dutch Commissariaat voor de Media (CvdM) will be extending its monitoring to a wider range of influencers. Until now, only those with more than 500,000 subscribers were concerned. From now on, any content creator active on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok who has published at least 24 paid videos in the last 12 months and is registered with the Chamber of Commerce will be subject to this enhanced surveillance.
On 29 May 2025, the Raad voor de Kansspelspelers (RvKS), a Dutch organisation representing gamblers, announced its withdrawal from any active participation in the debate on gambling policy in the Netherlands. In an open letter, the RvKS denounces a system that, in its view, fails structurally to bring about meaningful change and to take gamblers’ expertise seriously.
The KVA is fighting the illegal market and is using social media extensively to warn players about illegal gambling. Their website will also be rebuilt so that, among other things, members of the quality mark will get their own page.
A Dutch gambler went to court because he felt online casino Circus had breached its duty of care. Over three weeks, he lost more than €20,000 and demanded that money back. The man also claimed that he was in Cruks and therefore should never have been allowed to gamble.
In the consumer program Radar of AvroTros, there has been a lot of commotion about the summary proceedings that have been initiated against Unibet. At Radar, they were only too happy to investigate this matter and asked the Dutch Kansspelautoriteit and State Secretary Teun Struycken to respond in writing. This episode was broadcast on NPO2 on May 26.
For several months now, the debate has been raging in the Netherlands over the introduction of common monthly deposit limits for all online gambling operators.While the measure aims to provide better protection for players, it does raise some major concerns. Privacy issues, technical challenges and threats to the channelling of legal gambling are all serious obstacles to its implementation.
Jeroen Hairwassers works as a lecturer-researcher at Fontys and is currently conducting research into how gambling addiction can be prevented among young adults. He has received a PhD grant for his research and will collaborate with the Amsterdam UMC hospital.
State Secretary Tjebbe van Oostenbruggen has stated that privatising the Dutch Lottery is impossible. The planned reforms in the gambling policy would make this plan unfeasible. The government should not sell the Dutch Lottery and then adjust the legislation in a way that undermines the value of the company.
Starting on 1 July 2025, gambling sponsorship in Dutch football will be over. Large banners, logos on shirts and stadium names will disappear. With this, the Netherlands is taking a step that Belgium already took in 2023.
The Cruks register, designed to protect people from gambling addiction, faced technical problems again yesterday. Players could not register or exclude themselves from participating in online gambling.
Richard Dennys, CEO of Game Lounge, speaks out clearly about the current approach to the gambling market. He sees that the policy does not match the behavior of players. Instead of stopping, they opt for illegal sites as soon as the rules become too strict.
On 14 May 2025, the Dutch government announced that it would not proceed with the privatisation of Nederlandse Loterij and Holland Casino for the time being. This decision is aimed at maintaining the stability of the gambling market and strengthening player protection.
