The Dutch government is updating its legislation and policy on both online gambling and land-based gambling. In GT Alert, we briefly describe the most relevant legal developments of 2019 in this area, and also look forward to 2020.
Online gambling’s illegality in the Netherlands notwithstanding, the number of people in the Netherlands who participate in online gambling has increased steadily over the last few years. According to research of Motivaction (link in Dutch), 1.8 million Dutch people admitted to having participated in an online gambling game (at least) once. Most gambling websites operate in other countries (such as Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Malta) and are accessible to Dutch gamblers from these locations. To regulate and control online gambling, the Dutch Senate (Eerste Kamer) approved the Remote Gambling Act (Wet kansspelen op afstand) in February 2019. This new legislation legalizes online gambling for providers that have obtained a permit.