Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has rallied against the proposed complete online gambling advertising ban as illegal operators swarm social media platforms with ads targeted towards the Dutch market.
KSA Chair Michel Groothuizen warned that the ad ban and limiting the number of online operator licences proposed by the Netherlands’ coalition government (D66, VVD and CDA) are counterproductive and ‘unhelpful’ to its intended goal.
Groothuizen referenced the current untargeted advertising in place for online operators, which prohibits gambling advertisements on TV, radio, print media and in public spaces. He noted that the advertising market has moved to social media, but this has predominantly been from illegal operators.
He said: “Currently, the competition for gamblers’ favour is primarily taking place on social media: TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and others are rife with gambling ads. However, the lion’s share comes from illegal parties.
“To put that into perspective: over the past few months, Facebook and Instagram have seen over 60,000 ads targeted at the Dutch public every month. Fewer than 2,000 of these come from legitimate online providers.”
The KSA Chair argued that a complete ban on online advertising would result in just illegal operators having an advertising presence online.
“Our people will do everything in their power to combat illegal advertising as well, but under the current circumstances, we cannot be 100% successful. We may be able to enforce greater responsibility on tech companies through the Digital Services Act, but that will be a long-term process.
“The illegal parties will pay little attention to this, and as long as large tech companies continue to allow these advertisements or do not actively remove them on their own initiative, the only consequence of this ban announced in the coalition agreement will be that players will be lured away from the legal market even more than now.
“After all, they will then only encounter illegal providers online. That does not seem to me to be the intended goal of the new cabinet.”
Limiting licences won’t equal fewer ads
Groothuizen made sure to highlight the duty of care measures in place with licensed operators, which can help reduce gambling-related harms. He also stated that having fewer licensed operators online wouldn’t necessarily mean less advertising online.
“Capping the number of providers in a market with parties that meet all the conditions and offer products or services that also comply with the regulations seems to me a legally difficult path, with questionable utility,” noted the KSA Chair.
“There is no reason to assume that there will be less advertising in a market with five providers than with 25, or that the number of players will decrease. If we as a society do not want to allow certain products to be offered, we must prohibit them.
“Allowing provider X and Y and not provider Z with the same product on numerical grounds is inexplicable to us as the licensing authority.”
Despite the criticism, Groothuizen concluded that he is looking forward to working with the coalition regarding gambling. However, the KSA isn’t alone in its criticism of the government’s proposals.
VNLOK calls ban ‘unreasonable’
Vergunde Nederlandse Online Kansspelaanbieders (VNLOK), Dutch gambling’s trade body, stated that it shares the government’s goal of improving protections for players and combating the black market, but is encouraging a rethink on how to approach the matter.
Recently published data by VNLOK showed that analysis of Meta’s ads library between October 2025 and December 2025 revealed “more than 95% of the gambling promotions found—both Facebook pages and advertisements” were from black market operators.
Only a small portion of these ads were removed by Meta, with the association calling for “faster and more robust measures” as a result.
Björn Fuchs, Chair of VNLOK, stated: “In practice, public outrage over gambling advertisements is primarily focused on a tsunami of illegal advertisements. It is unreasonable and ineffective to subsequently ban only legal providers from being visible.”
VNLOK believes more work on duty of care is needed, but noted that “more written regulations are not automatically the solution”, adding that effectiveness, feasibility and improved cooperation between stakeholders are crucial.
The trade body claimed that limiting the number of online licences “does not automatically lead to a safer or better offering. Quality is guaranteed by strict requirements and effective oversight, not by scarcity”.
