Netherlands: Dutch market online gambling regulated October 1st, 2021

[vanHooff]

Hey all,

From  October 1st, 2021 onwards the market for online gambling for Dutch players will be regulated.

From that date on, only licensed companies will be allowed to offer online gambling services to the Dutch.

28 companies have applied and received a license.

From the list that I have seen, about 25 are national/local joints, 1 is a decent Malta based casino group, and 1 is a huge British betting/gambling operator. 

The catch is that a number of reputable casino's have not been eligible to get a license to start on October 1st due to the rules of our regulator 'Kansspelautoriteit'. Expected is that those companies will be eligible for a license in early 2022.

Although I have next to no communication about this yet, I expect that before October 1st  (maybe November 1st, allowing 1 month to conclude business)  a number of decent casino operators will withdraw from the Dutch market.

A bit surprisingly, last week our 'minister of law' has ordered the regulator Kansspelautoriteit to enforce the new regulations strictly .
Kansspelautoriteit has announced to raise the fines for operating illegally substantially and to enforce from November 1st, 2021.

Link (in Dutch) : https://kansspelautoriteit.nl/nieuws/2021/september/ksa-nieuwe-aanpak-illegale-online/

I expect the Dutch to have far fewer decent places to play online for at least half a year, and not being able or allowed to participate in the CG promo's anymore from next week onwards. 

I will still hang around here though, see you around  
 

[Peachyslots]

Seems similar to what we have over here in Belgium. We are only allowed to play on online casinos approved by the Belgian Gaming Authority ( Kansspelcommissie) , which leaves us with only 9 or 10 online casinos to play on, of which at least one only offers poker ( Pokerstars I believe, I don't play poker) 

All of these must have a counterpart landbased casino in Belgium so, it's never gonna get much more than there are now.

VanHooff, will there be an online Holland Casino? I occasionally go to the landbased one in Breda, I wonder if we would be allowed to play there online as well if they are amongst the "chosen ones" . I assume we wouldn't be allowed which would be funny since we can go over there and play without a problem 😂

[anonymousapple]

I think Bet365 is on the list, pretty solid for sports. Which one is the british? If its Flutter it should be pretty game selections and rtp.

[vanHooff]

I have not stated the list of licensees out of respect for the Casinogrounds affiliating business.

Bet365 is one of the new licensees, I listed this one as the 'British' because it is based in Stoke-on-Trent. 
In fact the license is probably issued to a Maltese based entity of Bet365 because of the law that states that only European entities are eligible for a license. (not 100% sure about this)

@PeachyPeach Holland Casino (HC) online is one of the October 1st licensees. 
HC has partnered up with Playtech and will at least offer live casino games and sports betting. 
Online slots and bingo seem likely but I have not read anything about those yet.
For the live casino a studio in Scheveningen will be used, so we will not have to do with Latvian or Romanian dealers.

I assume that Belgian players would in theory be allowed to play in HC online as long as they are in the Netherlands.
But in practice I don't think this is going to be facilitated because of the checks that are made at the signup.

For playing at HC online while in Belgium, a Belgian license would probably be needed, which I don't think HC has. Sorry   

Edited 23 September, 2021 by vanHooff

[Svenix]

• TOTO Online BV
• FPO Nederland BV
• Holland Casino NV
• NSUS Malta Limited
• Play North Ltd (Rocketcasino.com)
• Tombola Limited
• Hillside (New Media Malta) Plc
• Bingoal Nederland BV
• Betent BV
• LiveScore Malta Limited

[vanHooff]

Indeed, only 10 companies from 29 applicants have received a license to offer online gambling services starting from October 1st, 2021.

The list posted by Svenix is correct and official.

The list of licensed companies will grow as more companies are licensed.
I expect a couple of licenses to be granted real soon, and a handful of reputable casino's to be licensed from early 2022.

The newsletter of the initial 10 licensed companies is HERE  and you can always search for all licensed operators on the website of the Dutch  Gaming Commission 'Kansspelautoriteit.nl' 
https://kansspelautoriteit.nl/veilig-spelen/veilig-online-gokken/ 
In the search field you may want to enter  'gok' (=gamble) for the full list, 'casino' 'sport' 'bingo' for partial lists,
or the name / relevant keyword of a specific casino you want to lookup.

I expect mails from current casino's that are open to Dutch tomorrow.
I expect that a number of casino's will close for Dutch tomorrow and probably allow to finish up withdrawals and such until October 31st, will let you know when I get the news. Or if I don't   

Edited 29 September, 2021 by vanHooff

[NeWbZs]

I asked Bwin about there license. They said that the new law won't affect my account in anyway.

[Janalleman]

That seems like a horrible list.. I guess we will be extremely limited (by law).
So I mainly play Leo and Rootz, but Rootz is not gonna close accounts it seems.

However they state:

4.3 - You declare that you are over 18 years of age (18+) or comply with a higher minimum legal age as stipulated in the jurisdiction of your residence under the laws applicable to you. It is your sole responsibility to know whether online gambling is legal in your country of residence.

So what will happen on Rootz, for example. How will gambling be regulated, when it's not regulated..?
This so called regulation is our own responsibility? All so vague tbh..

Fear I will end up on a crypto casino, due to regulations to be honest.
Will we be able to do bonusbuys or even play NLC games?

[vanHooff]

30 minutes ago, NeWbZs said:

I asked Bwin about there license. They said that the new law won't affect my account in anyway.

Assuming you are Dutch and playing from the Netherlands, I am quite confident that you have not been informed correctly by Bwin.

First of all Bwin is not licensed to operate in the Netherlands from October 1st onwards.

Also Bwin is a member of a lobby group for regulated casino's in the Netherlands: "Nederlandse Online Gambling Associatie" 
https://www.no-ga.nl/  being a subsidiary of Entain Entertainment.
For completeness, the other lobby group is "Vergunde Nederlandse Online Kansspelaanbieders" https://vnlok.nl/

I expect all members of above two groups to be compliant to Dutch regulations. 
Although, of course, I have no insight in what has been agreed to 'behind the scenes' for the upcoming period.

23 minutes ago, Janalleman said:

That seems like a horrible list.. I guess we will be extremely limited (by law).
So I mainly play Leo and Rootz, but Rootz is not gonna close accounts it seems.

However they state:

4.3 - You declare that you are over 18 years of age (18+) or comply with a higher minimum legal age as stipulated in the jurisdiction of your residence under the laws applicable to you. It is your sole responsibility to know whether online gambling is legal in your country of residence.

So what will happen on Rootz, for example. How will gambling be regulated, when it's not regulated..?
This so called regulation is our own responsibility? All so vague tbh..

Fear I will end up on a crypto casino, due to regulations to be honest.
Will we be able to do bonusbuys or even play NLC games?

Agreed that the initial list of 10 casino's is very limited.
Bonus buys and auto-spins are going to be prohibited as far as I know.

I don't know about how Rootz is going to act,  but the fines for operating illegally are sky-high.

BREAKING NEWS: LeoVegas and Royal Panda are closed for Dutch per 30 september. (until they reopen when licensed, early next year?)

 

[NeWbZs]

@vanHooff

I talked to pokerstars aswell and they said they are not aware of any law or chances that might come in the next days. They said not to worry. 

Either the chat support doenst know anything or they just keep on offering there betting service. 

[Janalleman]

Ok, so my trusted casino Leovegas wants to operate legally and will close till 2022.

Rootz and probably other casino's will put the responsibility on their players.
So from oktober any bets on casino's like that will still be accepted.

I know Betchan (N1) got a 500k fine and got closed for accepting dutch players.
Still N1 does operate with over 10+ casino's and don't seem worried about the regulations at all.

How a group like that can keep operating (for now), without any troubles?

I guess we need atleast 6 months to see how this all turns out. It's def. gonna be interesting.
For now it looks like the big Dutch operators/government just want a piece of the moneycake.

 

[vanHooff]

46 minutes ago, NeWbZs said:

@vanHooff

I talked to pokerstars aswell and they said they are not aware of any law or chances that might come in the next days. They said not to worry. 

Either the chat support doenst know anything or they just keep on offering there betting service. 

Well I don't know anything for sure but  I guess that before midnight tomorrow
Pokerstars (Flutter) and all other companies that are either in VNLOK or in No-ga
( Leovegas, Unibet (Kindred), Party/Bwin, (Entain), CasinoWinner/LoyalCasino/Betsafe/Betsson (Betsson), Betway, 
and which do not get a license per October 1st will stop offering their services, but allow reasonable time to cashout.

This would make sense as not to risk hefty fines or endanger any future licensing. 
Of course there might be 'behind the scenes' deals that I am not aware of, or unexpected strategies.

[Svenix]

The Casino's who targeted Dutch players before the new regulations now get penalized by not being able to get a license for half a year. So they will join the list in 2022. Casino's who don't follow the new rules get fined, €600.000 for casino's with less than 12mil avenue and casino's with more than 12mil avenue will get fined up to 5% of their avenue. BUT, they already said the fines won't work: almost no casino pay the fines. 

[Slot Lover]

Jackpotcity casino closed my account today.

They didn't bother to send an email. I just couldn't login anymore. I checked with their livechat and they said it's because the new regulations in the Netherlands.

So I guess if they or any other casino ever wants to operate legally in the Netherlands, they better be safe and close accounts now. Otherwise a future permit might be harder for them to get.

[NeWbZs]

Got this from pokerstars

[vanHooff]

'Black Thursday' update:
I have received news from Leovegas, Royal Panda, Pokerstars, Betfair, PartyCasino, Bwin, Betway, Pelaa/Genesis Group, Betclic
that they are all shutting down before October 1st (midnight tonight)

Some of these companies will return to the Dutch market as soon as possible, which is probably in half a year, March 2022.

Two of other big casino's that have not yet notified about closing of activities are Betsson Group (casinowinner/loyalcasino/Betsafe/Betsson) and Unibet.
I will update tonight or tomorrow morning with any news.

[vanHooff]

Update: Betsson and all of its casino's are closing before October 1st as well:
For the official announcement please review:
 https://www.betssonab.com/en/press/betsson-has-taken-decision-stop-accepting-dutch-customers-its-international-websites-future

Some of the brands that may be familiar: Betsafe Betsson Guts CasinoEuro CasinoWinner LoyalCasino Kaboo Rizk Thrills 

[jaronh]

Seems like Unibet will continue without licence (in dutch): https://www.nieuwslog.nl/1417749-unibet-wil-doorgaan-zonder-casinovergunning

[Janalleman]

'Black Thursday' haha.. It's all quite depressing 😂.

Have u noticed N1's response today..

I got spammed with freespins, 100% bonus and 100% cashbacks from all their brands.
I rather don't play with them tbh; bad rtp and lack most of my favourite slots.



So they just wanna go anonymous and probably gonna remove iDeal entirely.
They are seeing this whole transition as an oppertunity to suck in more players.

Anyway, if a License like this can just continue, what is the use of regulations?

Will you guys keep playing? Gonna try the new brands tomorrow?
Without Nolimit City, there is no gambling for me, haha.

[Biasletti]

Haven't been active lately, but that's a shocker. Courage to CG and the dutch people, hopefully they will be able to get back to the dutch community. Sadly, as i'm from Belgium, i've had the same issues of not being able to join the CG giveaways. I can still understand their point of view though, it isn't the worst regulation. Just very bad news for gamblers who loved to play on certain websites and for the best gambling community out there, CG.

[Cocorik]

Does anyone know when the big casinos in the Netherlands will go live ?

[jaronh]

[TimoSchellekens]

was expecting Holland Casino to go live at 00:00 hours but they haven't.  "Nog even geduld en dan lanceren we ons gloednieuwe online casino."

 

 

[johan2222]

Hoi

I read somewhere that ggpoker another casino would open at 12 noon. 

 

 

 

 

[jaronh]

Looks like some casinos are still allowing dutch players at the moment:
21.com
UltraCasino
Justspin
NeonVegas
NitroCasino
RapidCasino
LuckyDays
CasinoFriday
LVBet
N1 Casino
Energy Casino
SlotWolf
CrazyPlay