Dutch Mental Health Care warns: online gambling is a health hazard

The Dutch Mental Health Care (De Nederlandse GGZ) is sounding the alarm. Since 2021, when the online gambling market opened, gambling has become a lot easier for everyone. And that is bad news for people who are susceptible to addictions.

The Mental Health Care warns that online gambling not only causes financial problems. It also puts mental health under considerable pressure. They therefore support the CDA and SGP proposal to ban online gambling and advocate for more attention to prevention and better supervision.

Why online gambling is bad for your mind

Since online gambling became legal, the threshold for participating has become much lower. You no longer have to leave your house, you can simply do it from your living room, via your phone or computer. That may sound easy, but that is precisely why people become addicted more quickly.

It is so accessible that you can easily get stuck in it. De Nederlandse GGZ sees that this increasingly leads to mental problems, such as stress, depression and insomnia.

Young people are the biggest victims

What is really worrying is that young people in particular are having a hard time. In 2023, almost 20 percent of people seeking help for a gambling addiction were under 25 years old. That is a large group. Young people are often impulsive and do not immediately see the dangers of gambling.

They quickly think: “oh, gambling once can’t hurt.” But before they know it, they are in the middle of it. This is exactly why the GGZ, together with organizations such as Addiction Care Netherlands, has been warning politicians for years about the dangers of the open gambling market.

Gambling companies are not taking their responsibility

According to Ruth Peetoom, chair of the De Nederlandse GGZ, supervision of gambling companies is seriously inadequate. She believes that companies are doing too little to prevent people from becoming addicted. While in the meantime they are trying to entice young people and vulnerable people with their advertisements.

“We are seeing more and more people who are in deep trouble because they cannot stop gambling. The gambling companies are not taking responsibility.”

Ruth Peetoom, chair of De Nederlandse GGZ

She believes that these companies should do much more to make the risks of gambling clear and to protect players.

Focus on health, not profit

As far as Peetoom is concerned, there should be much more attention for prevention and the health of players. 

“We have to look at the long term. It is more important to keep people healthy than to make more profit.”

Especially now that young people are increasingly confronted with mental problems and end up in youth care, she believes it is time for change. According to her, the focus should be on preventing problems, instead of making gambling even more attractive.

Gambling addictions continue to increase

The figures do not lie. Between 2018 and 2023, the number of people seeking help for gambling addiction increased by more than 15 percent. In 2023 alone, 2,456 people reported to addiction care with a gambling problem.

The GGZ sees that this is largely due to the growth of online gambling. This is also the reason why the GGZ fully supports the initiative note of the CDA and SGP, which advocates reversing the legalisation of online gambling.