Licensed online operators in the Netherlands generated €670m in gross gaming revenue (GGR) in the first half of 2026, up 11% from €602m in the second half of 2025, according to the Dutch regulator Kansspelautoriteit (KSA). The KSA monitoring report, published on 29 October, said the men’s World Cup in June and July probably contributed to the rise.
Online casino games accounted for 73% of the total, about €492m, and sports betting for 24%, about €163m, the KSA’s monitoring report for the first half of 2026 shows. Sports betting’s share rose during the tournament.
Accounts up, players down
Dutch players used an average of 1.48 million accounts per month, against 1.38 million in the previous six months. The number of people behind those accounts fell: a panel survey put unique monthly online players at about 490,000, down from 510,000. The KSA said the gap may partly reflect players opening several accounts to get around per-account deposit limits introduced in October 2024.
The average player lost €137 a month in the half, up 13% from €121.
Risk indicators in the KSA monitoring report
The share of online players with a moderate risk of gambling problems fell to 9% from 11%, based on an Ipsos survey of 6,948 people carried out in spring 2026. The high-risk share held at 9%, while 65% of online players showed no problem gambling.
About 48,000 accounts, or 0.5% of the total, lost more than €1,000 a month. That group produced 13% of online GGR, a lower share than in the previous report. More than half of all accounts (54%) ended the month within €100 of breaking even, and 36% lost between €100 and €1,000.
Young adults aged 18 to 23 held 22% of active accounts but produced 10.1% of GGR, or €68m. Their average monthly loss per account was €34, against €75 for all players. Licence holders also sent more duty-of-care notifications that led to involuntary registrations in Cruks, the national self-exclusion register, than in the second half of 2025, the KSA said.
Illegal market estimates
The KSA estimates that about 30,000 people a month play with unlicensed operators, 20,000 of them only on illegal sites. Measured by players, 94% to 97% of Dutch online gamblers use licensed sites. That estimate comes from a panel of about 6,000 people, of whom around 300 gamble online.
Measured by money, channelisation is much lower. The KSA put the licensed share of online GGR at 59%, up from 54%, which leaves about 41% with unlicensed sites.
The trade body for licensed operators, the Vereniging van Nederlandse Online Kansspelaanbieders (VNLOK), said in its response to the report on 29 October that a player on an illegal site loses more than 10 times as much as the average legal player each month. It called for a more reliable method to measure how many people gamble illegally.
In the previous monitoring report, we already raised the alarm about how the number of illegal players is estimated. The same vulnerable method is still being used. Better measurement is no longer a wish, but a necessity.
Björn Fuchs, Chairman, VNLOK (translated from Dutch)
One strong half after a weak year
VNLOK said it was too early to talk about a recovery. The KSA’s separate Market Scan for 2025, published on the same day, shows online casino GGR fell 18.2% and online sports betting GGR 30.2% in 2025, with the total licensed market down from €4.5bn to €4.1bn. The KSA linked the fall partly to the player protection rules introduced in late 2024.
It is tempting to speak of recovery after a strong six months, but it is too early for that. The World Cup has boosted the figures.
Rosemarijn Dral, Director, VNLOK (translated from Dutch)
The previous report, covering the second half of 2025, put the illegal share of the Dutch market near half. VNLOK is asking for proportional rules for licensed operators, tougher enforcement against unlicensed sites and a full measurement of gambling behaviour in the Netherlands.
Source: Kansspelautoriteit
