Dutch gambling reforms in doubt amid government collapse
Proposed reforms including a rise in the minumum age for online slots are likely to be delayed.
The Netherlands.- With Gaming in Holland 2025 taking place in Amsterdam today, many are wondering about the future of proposed gambling reforms amid the Netherlands’ political turmoil. Back in February state secretary for legal protection Teun Struycken said he would submit a new gambling bill to parliament this year, but that now looks unlikely after the collapse of the four-party coalition government.
The coalition of VVD, PVV, BBB and NSC had always been fractious. It took over 200 days to form and finally fell apart after less than a year when Geert Wilders, leader of the PVV pulled what was the coalition’s biggest party out this week. While the three remaining coalition parties could decide to continue as a minority cabinet under prime minister Dick Schoof, it appears most likely that a snap general election will be called, possibly for as soon as October – two year’s earlier than would have been necessary otherwise.
That makes it likely that further gambling reforms will at least be delayed. Struycken, who is an independent and continues in office, was expected to propose measures including a rise in the minimum age for online slots and possibly even tighter restrictions on gambling ads.
That’s after a review of the current Remote Gambling Act found that player protection measures were insufficient. The report particularly criticised a lack of use of addiction prevention representatives, the way that spending limits function and the decision to trust operators to oversee their own duty of care. The legislation paved the way for the opening of a regulated online gambling market in October 2021.
The fate of those proposals will now depend on who forms the next Dutch government. Both Schoof and Wilders have expressed the intention to stand. It’s possible that another centre-right coalition could emerge if the far-right PVV, centre-right VVD, centre-leaning NSC and agriculture-focused BBB maintain their shares of the vote. The alternative could be a coalition between GroenLinks and Democrats 66.
The now collapsed VVD, PVV, BBB, NSC coalition had taken a faily tough line on gambling and increased gambling tax from 30.5 per cent to 34.2 per cent this year, with a further rise to 37.8 per cent scheduled for 2026. Just last month, the government had confirmed that it was not considering the privatisation of Holland Casino, the state-owned land-based casino operator, or the state lottery operator Nederlandse Loterij saying such a move would not be “feasible and proportionate” at the current time.
