The Dutch gamble more money online than the Gaming Authority had expected before the opening of the market. This is evident from figures released by the regulator on Friday. One year ago, the Netherlands became the last EU country to legalize online gambling. Advertising for this, which in practice leads to a lot of criticism, is now allowed.
In the first half of the year, companies that offer online games of chance invested 486 million euros. Online gamblers make an average loss of 153 euros per month, according to the Gaming Authority, which reports this in a so-called Monitoring Report.
In total, there were 563,000 active accounts on gambling sites in July this year. That does not mean that there are also so many online gamblers: they may have created an account with multiple gambling providers. The proportion of young people is relatively high among gambling accounts. Young people between the ages of 18 and 23 make up 9.4 percent of society, but people in that age group make up 22 percent of all accounts at gambling sites.
For opening up the online gambling market, the Gaming Authority took into account an annual turnover of approximately 800 million euros. After six months, the 22 licensed online gambling companies are already at 486 million, with turnover in the second quarter being higher than in the first. The regulator expects this increase to continue. The World Cup kicks off in November, and those matches are attractive to bet on. A number of new international providers will also enter the Dutch market in the coming months, which are expected to attract new customers.
Gambling increase
For the time being, legalization of online gambling seems to generate more gambling activity. The estimate for 2021 was that the Dutch had gambled a total of around 500 million euros, although online gambling was still illegal at the time and – as a result – the amount was difficult to measure.
Since the opening of the market, a growing number of people are spending more time on gambling sites. The fear that this would lead to more people becoming addicted, moved the cabinet to ban untargeted gambling advertisements, advertisements that do not distinguish between young people and adults. That ban will take effect next year.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of October 1, 2022