The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling regulator, has released its Spring 2026 Monitoring Report, providing a comprehensive overview of the online gambling market’s performance throughout the second half of 2025. The findings signal a significant shift in the market’s lifecycle: the period of rapid, explosive growth following the 2021 market opening has officially transitioned into a phase of stagnation and stabilisation.
According to the report, key metrics, including Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR), the number of licensed operators, and player channelisation, remained virtually unchanged compared to the previous reporting period. While the market size has levelled off, the KSA notes that the internal dynamics are shifting, particularly regarding how players manage their accounts following the introduction of new deposit limits and consumer protection protocols.
Dutch Online GGR Stability: Analyzing Market Value in the Spring 2026 Report
The Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR), calculated as total stakes minus prizes paid out, for the Dutch online market reached over €602 million in the second half of 2025. This represents a marginal increase from the €600 million recorded in the first half of the year, confirming that the market has found its “natural ceiling” under current conditions. On a monthly basis, the Dutch online GGR remains stable at approximately €100 million.
However, a broader year-on-year analysis reveals a more complex picture. Compared to 2024, the GGR has actually decreased by approximately 18%. This decline is largely attributed to the introduction of stricter player protection measures, including the mandatory net deposit limits that came into effect in late 2024. These regulations have successfully curbed high-intensity spending, but they have also cooled the overall financial expansion of the licensed sector.
How Deposit Limits Affect Multi-Accounting in the Netherlands
One of the most striking findings in the Spring 2026 report is the continued rise in the number of active player accounts. In the second half of 2025, an average of 1.38 million accounts were used per month, up from 1.29 million in the first half of the year.
The KSA suggests this is not necessarily an indication of more people gambling but rather a behavioural shift. Since the introduction of the net deposit limit in October 2024, players are restricted in how much they can deposit per account without providing detailed income documentation. As a result, many players have opened multiple accounts across different licensed operators to stay within the limits while continuing their gambling activity.
Despite the 1.38 million accounts, the KSA estimates that only about 500,000 unique individuals gamble online per month in the Netherlands. This highlights a significant “multi-accounting” trend that complicates the regulator’s efforts to monitor total individual spend across the entire market.
Dutch Channelization Rates: Closing the 53% Monetary Gap in the Legal Gambling Market
Channelisation, the percentage of players who gamble exclusively through licensed Dutch operators, remains a cornerstone of the KSA’s success metrics. The report indicates that 91% of Dutch gamblers use only legal websites, a figure that has remained high and stable.
However, the KSA introduced a critical distinction in this report regarding “monetary channelisation”. While 91% of people play legally, the monetary channelisation rate sits at just 53%. This means nearly half of all money wagered by Dutch residents is still flowing to illegal, unlicensed operators.
While this 53% is a slight improvement over the previously estimated 49% (due to data corrections), it remains a major concern for the regulator. The KSA posits that players suffer significantly higher losses at illegal sites because these platforms lack the protection tools found in the regulated market. This discrepancy underscores the ongoing need for initiatives like KSA’s five new gambling harm prevention funds, which aim to educate consumers on the risks of the black market.
Protecting Young Adults: High Activity and Player Loss Trends in Dutch iGaming
The financial impact on individual players has seen a slight uptick. After an initial drop following the 2024 protection measures, the average monthly loss per player rose to €124 in late 2025, up from €117 earlier in the year.
The report continues to highlight young adults as a disproportionately active demographic.
- They account for 22% of all active accounts, despite making up only 9.3% of the adult population.
- However, their financial risk appears lower; the average loss per account for young adults is €34 per month, compared to €73 for the general adult population.
- This group shows a distinct preference for sports betting over casino games, a trend that the KSA is monitoring closely as it prepares for future advertising restrictions.
The Future of Dutch Gambling Licenses: Renewals and Zero-Tolerance Enforcement
The stability of the market in 2026 is likely to be tested as the first wave of five-year licenses begins to approach its expiration in late 2026 and 2027. The KSA has indicated that future licence renewals will be contingent on a strict “track record” evaluation. Operators who have faced fines or warnings over the past five years will face much higher hurdles to stay in the market.
Furthermore, the KSA is entering a new era of enforcement. With a restructured governance model and an increased focus on AI-driven supervision, the regulator is moving toward a “zero-tolerance” approach for duty of care failures. As the market reaches maturity, the emphasis has shifted from growth and onboarding to sustainability, transparency, and the aggressive suppression of the illegal market to close the monetary channelisation gap.