Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has reported an increase in gross gaming result (GSR – stakes minus prizes paid out) for the Dutch gambling market in 2024 in comparison to 2023, but a dip when the first half of the past year is compared against the second half.
However, the gambling authority for the Netherlands believes that its latest online gambling monitoring report figures show that responsible gaming policy is having a positive effect, as the number of accounts with extreme losses has fallen sharply since new rules were introduced.
Within the report, the KSA stated that 2024’s GSR came in at €1.47bn, a 6% increase when compared to the previous year (2023: €1.39bn). During the first half of 2024, GSR stood at €777m, but in the second half of the year, this figure dropped to €697m.
The gambling authority has attributed this drop to the European Football Championship taking place in June, which was a peak period for the market, as well as the introduction of a new responsible gambling policy, including deposit limits, in October.
Throughout the year, the number of accounts rose from an average of 1.1 million per month during the first half of the year to an average of 1.19 million per month during the second half of the year.
Since players can have accounts with several operators, the KSA stated that the number of accounts is not a reflection of the number of people playing in the market, so it uses data from the research agency GfK to estimate this figure.
The report estimates that the Netherlands’ online gambling market had 788,000 players active with legal providers in the past six months, or 5.4% of the adult population. This figure was estimated to be 5.5% during the first half of 2024.
Regarding player losses, the KSA noted that the player protection regulations played a factor in the decrease in average loss per month throughout the year, as well as the number of accounts that suffered excessive losses.
For players aged 24 and over in the first half of 2024, the authority has reported that average losses per month were €160. For the second half of the year, this number decreased to €148 per month.
As for extreme losses, the KSA said that before October 2024, 4% of accounts lost more than €1,000 per month, accounting for 73% of the total GSR. After October, these figures drop to 1.2% and 23% of the total GSR respectively.
For young adults aged between 18 and 23, the report revealed that they had an average loss per month of €48, while most of their spend goes on sports betting (29%), a figure higher than other player groups (22%).
Regarding channelisation, the KSA noted that while the vast majority (91%) of users in the market play with legal operators, the illegal market still has a 50% share of the Dutch market’s total gambling spend.
In terms of supporting those who are struggling with their gambling, the authority noted that registrations with Cruks (Central Register for Exclusion from Gambling) rose to 87,345 in January 2025, an average of 509 registrations per week.
Half of the total registrations were under 32 years old, while 16% were young adults. Most registrations are recent, as 56% of Cruks registrations have not been registered for half a year.
