Dutch regulator reports licensed gambling GGR fell to €4.1bn in 2025

The Netherlands' licensed gambling sector contracted in 2025, with gross gaming revenue across land-based and online products falling to €4.1bn, down from an inflation-adjusted €4.5bn the previous year, according to the annual market scan published by the Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) on Thursday 29 October.

Online products drove most of the decline. Combined online GGR came to €1.20bn, a 21% drop from €1.52bn in 2024, CasinoBeats reported. Online casino revenue slipped 18.2% to €947m, while online sports betting fell more sharply still, down 30.2% to €254m from €364m a year earlier.

The Ksa attributes part of the fall to tighter duty of care requirements introduced on 1 October 2024, including a net deposit limit, alongside a tax rise and a difficult comparison against 2024, a year in which the men's European Championship boosted betting turnover.

Gambling tax increased from 30.5% to 34.2% across 2025, which is why total tax receipts of €1.05bn did not fall as steeply as overall revenue.

Land-based gambling proved more resilient. State-run Holland Casino lifted its GGR by 2.8% to €683m, though the regulator notes the gain came from slot machines rather than table games. Machines placed in arcades and hospitality venues lost 4.7% of revenue, and lottery turnover dipped 1.8%. Land-based betting was the only other segment to expand, rising 8.5% over the year.

The number of arcade venues fell only slightly, down to 194 by the close of 2025 from 197 twelve months earlier, following 23 closures in the prior year.

A separate half-yearly monitoring report covering remote gambling in the first half of 2026 points to a different trend. Licensed online GGR reached €670m in that period, roughly 11% higher than the €602m recorded in the second half of 2025, which works out at close to €110m in monthly revenue. According to the Ksa, the men's football World Cup staged in June and July could be one factor behind the increase.

Active accounts with licensed operators rose to 1.48 million from 1.38 million, but the regulator does not believe the pool of actual gamblers has grown by a similar margin, estimating participation at about 490,000 people per month. One possible reason it offers is that some players hold multiple accounts to get around deposit limits set per account.

Channelisation measured by the number of participants stands at roughly 94%, indicating that most Dutch gamblers stick to licensed platforms. Measured by money wagered, however, the Ksa's channelisation estimate rose only from 54% to 59%, a gap the regulator says implies that those who gamble illegally tend to lose considerably more, on average, than customers of licensed operators.

Curbing that illegal market remains a stated priority. The Ksa recently imposed a record €37m fine on EOD Code over its operation of twelve illegal online casinos.

The report also cites treatment figures showing more than 14% more people sought care for gambling addiction in 2025 compared with the year before.