KSA launches campaigns targeting gambling harm in under-25s
The Dutch regulator has rolled out two awareness drives aimed at parents and young adults, days after data showed 18-23-year-olds make up a disproportionate share of legal gambling accounts.
Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch gambling regulator known as the KSA, confirmed on Monday that it had rolled out two new public-awareness initiatives intended to encourage earlier conversations about gambling and to lower the barrier for young people seeking help, as reported by iGaming Business.
One campaign, OpenOverGokken, launches in early November and is aimed at parents of teenagers and young adults aged roughly 16 to 25. It encourages caregivers to raise gambling as a topic before problems emerge, putting it alongside subjects such as sex and online safety that parents are already expected to discuss. The campaign builds on OpenOverGokken.nl, an information portal that launched in 2025 offering independent guidance and conversation tools for parents.
The second initiative runs under the existing Gokstop, or Gambling Stop, banner but shifts its focus. It targets young adults who are already struggling with gambling or judged to be at heightened risk, with a central message that quitting does not need to follow a crisis and can be decided at any point. It also asks friends and family to watch for warning signs and to help someone take an opening step into the national scheme for self-exclusion and support.
According to the KSA, this marks a change in direction for Gokstop messaging, which previously concentrated on life after giving up gambling. The new approach instead stresses early recognition and makes the first step towards help look manageable, framed around everyday situations rather than crisis points.
The regulator said young people most often come across gambling through advertising, in-game content, video platforms and social media.
The campaigns arrive against a backdrop of political pressure on the issue. Meryam Sümer, a local politician for the Christian Democratic Party (CDA), is pushing for a nationwide move to lift the minimum age for online gambling from 18 to 24.
They also follow the KSA's annual and semi-annual reports, published roughly a week earlier, which found that 18-23-year-olds held about 22% of legal gambling accounts despite making up only around 9.2% of adults in the Netherlands, a gap recorded for the opening six months of 2026. Accounts used by that age group lost an average of €34 a month over the same period.
A separate KSA survey found a marked spike in account registrations on or just after a user's 18th birthday. Among 18-year-olds in 2024-25, 11% of accounts were opened on their birthday itself, and 38% within a month of turning 18.
Further data or an evaluation of the two campaigns is anticipated from the regulator, with likely yardsticks including shifts in public awareness, traffic to OpenOverGokken.nl and registrations with Gokstop.