The Dutch Gambling Authority (Kansspelautoriteit, KSA) has renewed BetCity’s online gambling licence for five years, keeping the Entain-owned operator licensed in the Netherlands until 31 October 2031.
BetCity is the last of the eight operators licensed at the market’s October 2021 opening to have its permit extended. Holland Casino Online, Fair Play Online, Kansino, bet365, Bingoal, GGPoker and Toto received their extensions earlier. Jacks, which also traded from the start of the regulated market, has until 20 November to secure a new licence.
BetCity said in a statement:
This renewal is an important milestone for BetCity and reflects our continued commitment to offering a safe, responsible and regulated environment for players in the Netherlands.
Lotto’s monopoly licences and the Council of State
The KSA renewed three monopoly licences held by Lotto B.V. on 11 September, also for five years. They cover lotteries, instant lotteries and land-based sports betting. The current licences expire on 31 December 2026.
A higher appeal challenging the legality of continuing the monopoly system for those games is pending before the Council of State (Raad van State). The regulator said it would have preferred to decide after the ruling, but granted the extensions to avoid a gap in legal supply and to give Lotto B.V. clarity in time.
The ruling matters beyond Lotto B.V. If the Council of State finds the monopoly unlawful, the KSA would face pressure to open those three verticals to competition, or at minimum to change how it awards the licences next time. A decision against the regulator would land on permits it has just extended to 2031.
What the renewal means for Entain
Entain agreed to buy BetEnt B.V., which trades as BetCity.nl, in June 2022 for an initial €300 million, with contingent payments taking the maximum consideration to €850 million. The deal completed in January 2023 and gave Entain its route back into the Dutch market after the group stayed out of the 2021 licensing round.
The purchase has not gone to plan. In 2023 the KSA fined BetCity €3 million for failures to comply with the Dutch Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Prevention) Act. Entain has said the seller, Sports Entertainment Media B.V., did not disclose those compliance problems before completion, and in disclosures reported in March 2024 put the gap between BetCity’s value and the agreed deal price at €68 million to €156 million, with an alternative calculation producing a range of €58 million to €124 million.
Entain assumed 2024 revenue 28% to 32% below its original expectation for the business and raised the cost of capital it applied to it from 10% to 12.5%.
Against that, a five-year licence removes the one variable Entain could not price. The Netherlands has tightened steadily since 2021 through deposit limits, an advertising ban and higher gambling duty, and licence renewal was the point at which an operator carrying a recent anti-money laundering penalty could have been made to answer for it.
A regulator in an activist phase
The renewals sit alongside a more assertive KSA. The regulator has been pressing for European-level action against illegal gambling operators, and has spent the past two years issuing penalties for affiliate marketing, duty of care failures and offers reaching Dutch players without a licence.
Renewing every incumbent licence is not a softening of that position. The licence is the instrument the KSA uses to enforce the rules, and extending it keeps eight operators inside a framework where the regulator can impose conditions, fine and suspend. The alternative, letting permits lapse while a court case runs, would push players toward the unlicensed market the KSA is campaigning against.
Next dates
Jacks has until 20 November to obtain a new licence. Lotto B.V.’s current monopoly permits run to 31 December 2026, with the renewed ones taking effect from 1 January 2027. The Council of State has not set a date for its ruling.
Source: Kansspelautoriteit
