The untargeted gambling advertising ban in the Netherlands has so far not caused “any noticeable contraction” in the country’s igaming market, says regulator Kansspelautoriteit.
The KSA’s sixth monitoring report on online gambling found that the number of visits to gambling websites by people who do not already gamble has “decreased significantly.”
However, the fact that people who played before the ban came into force in July last year “do not come less often” means the ban “mainly affects people who do not yet play,” the KSA said.
The monitoring report revealed that gross gaming win in the Netherlands at the end of 2023 was €1.39bn, up from €1.08bn in 2022.
While the market “continued to grow strongly” in 2022, the growth has “levelled off” in 2023, the KSA said, adding that in the last six months, the gross gaming win increased by one per cent compared to the first half of the year.
People aged 18-23, a group of key focus in the Netherlands’ market, made up 9.5 per cent of the population but accounted for 22 per cent of the overall 1.1 million player accounts – an increase from 970,000 in 20222.
The KSA also said the channelisation rate to the legal market of 90 per cent in the latest report means its target of at least eight in 10 players playing with legal providers is still being met, with the channelisation rate being influenced by “new players.”
