Gambling Market Growth Persists at a Slower Pace in the Netherlands

This information comes from the fifth monitoring report on online gambling  published by the Gambling Authority (Ksa). The GGR for the period from August 2022 to July 2023 totaled 1.33 billion euros. This means the market has grown again, but not as significantly as before. From August 2022 to January 2023, the GGR grew by 33 percent. From January 2023 to August 2023, it was 8 percent.

René Jansen, Chairman of the Gambling Authority, stated:

"This fifth monitoring report demonstrates that there continues to be growth in the gambling market, although it is tapering off. This indicates an expected development in the market. Sustained growth brings increasing responsibility for providers. The Ksa will continue to rigorously ensure that Dutch players can gamble in a safe market, with ample attention to addiction prevention and understanding of potentially problematic playing behavior. Duty of care and addiction prevention are crucial components of our oversight."

Number of Players

In July 2023, the Dutch collectively played with 826,000 active accounts. Six months earlier, in January, there were 859,000. Since players can use more than one account, the number of accounts doesn't directly reflect the number of players. According to the latest report from the Ksa, it is estimated that 676,000 Dutch people gambled online in the last six months, representing 4.7 percent of the adult population. On average, 417,000 Dutch people gambled each month.

New Calculation Method

In the previous monitoring report, it was indicated that players on average lost €310 per month. This figure was based only on the months in which actual gambling took place and did not provide a clear picture of a player's losses in the long term. It was not possible to calculate the total loss after, for example, 6 months with that number. Therefore, the Ksa has now calculated the total long-term loss (in this case, half a year). This amount averages €1017 per player for the period from January 2023 to July and translates to €170 per month.

Channelization

With the opening of the online market, the objective was set that at least 8 out of 10 players would play with legal providers after the opening, in a safe environment with many safeguards in terms of addiction prevention. This goal is still being met: 93 percent of players play exclusively through legal websites (an increase of 1 percent from the previous semester). New players, who did not play before the market opened, almost all play (98 percent) exclusively with legal providers.

Young Adults

In the fifth monitoring report, specific attention was also given to the proportion of young adults. In July 2023, they gambled with 170,000 of the accounts used. This represents 21 percent of the total number of accounts. This is a slight decrease compared to January when they played with 184,000 accounts. Since, according to CBS, young adults make up 9.4 percent of the total adult population, they have relatively more accounts per player. However, they lose less money per month per account, approximately €59.

Cruks

The number of registrations in the Central Register of Exclusion from Gambling (Cruks) continues to increase. Registered players exclude themselves from participating in risky gambling for at least six months (longer is also possible) with all legal providers in the Netherlands, both online and land-based. In August (the benchmark of the monitoring report), there were over 48,000 people in Cruks. When publishing the report in September, that number had already surpassed 50,000.

Advertising

In the previous monitoring report, there was still no ban on indiscriminate advertising for online gambling, but a shift from television to online was already observed. With the implementation of the ban on July 1, television advertisements have dropped to zero; only program sponsorship messages are now visible on television. This is allowed until July 1, 2024.