Dutch Online Gambling Sees Growth Of 20% In Two years

The Netherlands technically does not have a legal option for online gambling. However, this does not seem to be stopping online gamblers in the Netherlands.

A recent study by Motivaction International showed that online gamblers in the Netherlands have increased by 20 percent in the last two years. This means around 1.86 million Dutch citizens have carried out some sort of unauthorized online gambling in 2018.

The 2018 figures are surprising. Motivaction last did a survey in 2016 and the numbers were significantly lower. If the data is accurate, then the amount of online gamblers has increased by 300,000 people in just two years. This is a large jump in online gambling participation. The unauthorized online gambling market in the Netherlands is estimated to be worth €592 million with no taxes being levied.

The survey on online gambling habit was commissioned by Holland Casino, which has a land-based casino monopoly in the country. The survey was done with 15,000 respondents with ages ranging from 18 to 80. Besides online gambling, the survey was focused on gaming habits in general and revealed some interesting fact.

For example, 38 percent of the respondents said they gambled in some way or form. However, only 18 percent admitted to gambling online. Online gamblers focused mainly on sports betting and bingo, which is surprising. Online gamblers admitted that sports betting was mostly their choice and bingo their second option.

Among online gamblers, bingo and casino games were the ones where they spent the most cash. The spending amounts increased from 2016 with bingo players spending 9.4 percent more while online casino players spent 14.3 percent more.

Preferring A Legal Option

Though a lot of the online gamblers liked playing on their current platform, a majority of them expressed the desire to play with online casinos that were legally allowed to operate in the Dutch market. The survey showed that 60 percent of online bingo players said they would prefer this option, while 66 percent of sports bettors think that a Dutch online sports betting platform would be a good idea.

Fortunately, the signs are good as it looks like online gambling could soon be made legal. The Dutch Senate will be discussing a Remote Gambling Bill in February. It has been three years in the making and if all goes well, the Senate may soon vote on its approval as early as February 12.