Holland Casino breaks ground on new Groningen site after fire

Holland Casino has started construction of a new venue at Businesspark Ter Borch, replacing the Groningen premises lost to fire in 2017.

A ground-breaking ceremony on Friday brought together company staff, construction partners and local officials to mark the start of building work, iGaming Business reported.

Holland Casino chief executive Petra de Ruiter said the project represented an important step after years of preparation, describing it as building not just a structure but "a place where guests feel welcome and where our employees can work with pride."

Tynaarlo mayor Marcel Thijsen said the development mattered for the wider region and could help drive growth at Businesspark Ter Borch, a site that sits beside the A7 motorway. Holland Casino expects the location to draw visitors from Groningen, Drenthe and the surrounding area.

The operator has said the new venue will be built around sustainability, accessibility and hospitality, with a design intended to reflect current guest expectations. It has not released a construction timetable, an expected opening date, the venue's planned capacity or its cost.

Richard van den Broek, a Holland Casino employee who attended the ceremony, said he was "relieved that it is finally starting and can't wait to walk in here."

Holland Casino, which runs the Netherlands' regulated land-based casino market under state ownership, has had no permanent Groningen premises since the 2017 fire. It settled on Businesspark Ter Borch as its preferred relocation site in 2023.

The new location sits around a 40-minute drive from the German border, a detail de Ruiter flagged in earlier comments to iGaming Business in September, when she pointed to German visitors as a significant audience for the company's land-based venues.

She said the appeal lay in offering something different from many German casinos, combining table games, slots, bingo and occasional poker nights with restaurants and entertainment to make for a fuller afternoon or evening out, which she said German guests had told her they found more engaging than some casinos across the border.

Alongside the Groningen build, Holland Casino has secured a five-year extension of its online gambling licence, securing its place in the regulated Dutch online market until at least 2031.

De Ruiter said the company would keep prioritising player protection in its online offering, adding that the regulated market needs to remain attractive enough to stop players drifting to unregulated providers that lack the same supervision.