The Dutch online gambling market is continuing to meet channelisation goals, however, the nation’s regulator, Kansspelautoriteit, has noted that growth appears to be levelling off two years after the legal ecosystem was introduced.
Despite gross gaming revenue increasing to €1.33bn during August 2022 to July 2023, the Ksa has acknowledged that this growth is not as strong as previously witnessed.
During August 2022 to January 2023 ongoing momentum brought a 33 per cent uptick, however, this slowed to eight per cent during the following six months. Online casino games are the largest segment, taking a 74 per cent share.
Data from the nation’s fifth monitoring report also highlighted that account numbers have also remained more or less consistent. Active accounts in July stood at 826,000 contrasted to 859,000 at the start of the year.
However, the Ksa noted that this “does not directly indicate the number of players”, with it estimated that 676,000 Dutch players have gambled in the past six months. That works out ay 4.7 per cent of the adult population.
Furthermore, channelisation currently stands at 93 per cent, up one percentage point in six months, which continues to exceed an objective of eight in ten players using legal providers.
“This fifth monitoring report shows that the gaming market continues to grow, even if it is levelling off,” stated René Jansen, Chair of the Ksa.
“This means that the market is developing as expected. The continued growth ensures increasing responsibility among providers.
“The Ksa continues to strictly monitor that Dutch players can gamble in a safe market, with sufficient attention to addiction prevention and insight into possible problematic gaming behaviour. Duty of care and addiction prevention are a crucial part of our supervision.”
Young adults also become a central focus of the report, with individuals that fall in the bracket comprising 170,000, or 21 per cent, of the total number of active accounts as of July 2023. This figure stood at 184,000 in January.
However, the Ksa noted they “lose less money per month per account”, with this standing €59 as opposed to the €170 stated for adults.
Furthermore, Cruks, the Netherlands’ self-exclusion register, featured more than 48,000 sign-ups through August. This has subsequently swelled to in excess of 50,000.