Has the Dutch gambling tax hike backfired?
The tax rate is due to rise again next year, but data suggests revenue may be down.
The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling tax rate increased from 30.5 per cent to 34.2 per cent this year, and it’s due to rise further to 37.8 per cent in 2026. But there are already signs that the move may have been counterproductive.
While the aim was to increase state revenue to the tune of €202m by 2028, the Dutch financial newspaper Financieele Dagblad has published data from the newly combined industry association VNLOK that suggests gross gambling revenue from the regulated market was down by 25 per cent in the first half of 2025.
As a result, VNLOK believes that the Dutch gambling tax take in 2025 may be only 83 per cent of last year’s total.
The Dutch gambling regulator, the KSA, is due to publish an impact report soon. It reported in April that GGR was down by 10 per cent in the second half of 2024, before the tax rise. VNLOK has ascribed that to new deposit limits. It says the addition of a higher tax burden being passed on to consumers and now the ban on gambling sponsorship from July are likely to further hit the sector and lead more customers to move to unlicensed operators.
The Netherlands is far from being the only country to implement or consider a hike in gambling tax in a bid to raise revenue in the past couple of years. Sweden increased gambling tax last year and France last month introduced new tax rates across the various regulated verticals in the country.
In the UK, the horseracing sector is opposing plans to unify the remote gambling tax rate on all online gambling verticals – a move that it says could be devastating for the sector. The Dutch case may end up providing an example of how a higher tax rate doesn’t always mean more revenue for the state.
