Lessons from Denmark and Italy: Navigating the Risks of Advertising Bans in the Netherlands
The Netherlands’ crackdown on gambling advertising may do more harm than good, experts warn, by potentially empowering illegal operators. The Dutch government believes that the best way to address gambling issues is to eliminate advertising altogether.
In June, the cabinet introduced a sweeping proposal for an almost complete ban on online gambling ads with limited exceptions. The initiative, led by Claudia van Bruggen, State Secretary for Legal Protection, extends beyond just advertising bans. It also targets sign-up bonuses like free bets, enforces a universal deposit cap across all operators. CRUKS self-exclusion system, and crackdown on illegal gambling activities is a promise.
“I find it particularly concerning that more and more people, and especially young people. They have started gambling online and are getting into trouble as a result,” Van Bruggen stated in June. “It is high time to reverse this trend.”
This proposal isn’t a radical departure but rather a continuation of a slow tightening of regulations. The Netherlands has already moved to ban role models in gambling advertisements, banned untargeted advertising from July 2023, and plans to outlaw sports sponsorships by July 2025. Each step was believed to sufficiently limit public exposure. However, officials now recognize that these measures have fallen short. When a medicine isn’t effective, the instinct is to increase the dosage and the same logic seems to apply here.
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The decline of channelisation in the Dutch online gambling market
Underlying these regulatory changes is a more fundamental shift. When the Dutch online market opened in 2021, the primary goal was to channel players toward licensed, supervised operators, ensuring safer gambling practices.
Justin Franssen, a partner at Amsterdam-based gaming law firm Franssen Tolboom, explains that this objective has been quietly abandoned: “Yes, I think it has and actually, not even that quietly,” he says, noting that former State Secretary Teun Struycken had already hinted at this change. “The new mantra is the prevention of gambling harm.” The focus is no longer on guiding existing players into the regulated market, but on protecting both players and non-players from gambling-related harm altogether.
However, his concern centers on the broader impact. He notes that successive restrictions on advertising, increased taxes, and mounting regulatory burdens. This restrictions have already caused the black-market gross gaming revenue (GGR) to surpass that of licensed operators, an outcome even the regulator admits.
