ShareThe Netherlands is revising its gambling laws, which were originally set out in 2021. This change of approach could impact the large number of online poker players in the country. We discuss this in the article below.
The year 2025 looks to be one where gambling reforms in the Netherlands are completely overhauled. Like many countries, these changes are being brought in to replace outdated legislation that fails to cover online gambling and sportsbooks. More so, it is creating new changes as more data becomes available on the results of these initial laws. For poker players, this may have some ramifications.
Changes to Gambling Legislation
Teun Struycken, the Secretary of State, has proposed that a new gambling bill will be in place by the end of the year. He had previously told the Dutch parliament that he had been working on this in late December. The initial plan was set to be unveiled in March of 2025.
This follows a long review of gambling and its impact which was concluded in November last year. It looked at both the positive and negative aspects. Most of the results suggest that the previous Remote Gambling Act was not protecting consumers and the public. This put the emphasis on market solutions and player responsibility.
So far, this has not specifically highlighted poker in any direct form. It was mainly aimed at changes for high-risk gambling such as slots.
The poker industry in Europe is now worth €123.4 billion, with a large part of that coming from the Netherlands. Its websites are extremely prolific, providing not just ways to play but also helpful guides on tactics and strategy. You can read about the top online poker sites in The Netherlands here. Hopefully, it is this skill element inherent in the game, and its own self-regulatory approach, that manages to separate poker from other games and leave it unscathed.
What is Set to Change?
The current Betting and Gaming Act (KOA) has led to an increase in problem gambling. In the year 2023, just two years after the bill was introduced, problem gambling was growing at a rate of 24.2% year on year. Of the people who were having issues, around 54% had gambling problems before. A total of 17% were under the age of 25.
Previous legislation, set out in 2021, had been extremely restrictive. He noted that the previous tactics had been problematic, highlighting the protection of minors and young adults. He has said further changes will not just cover remote gambling, but also physical gaming machines, scratchcards, bingo, and lotteries. No specific mention was made of skill-based games such as poker.
The main change is that the legislation is going to have a more consumer-centric approach. This is primarily aimed at reducing the risks of gambling. What have been high-risk gambling products, such as online slots, seem to be one of the main focuses. This tends to involve raising the player's age limit to 21 before being allowed to play.
Tighter regulations on advertising will be introduced. This will limit promotions to only the essential and necessary ones. However, this is a loose definition and will need clarification.
Another factor will be a central deposit limit. There will be more stringent checks, even involving financial capacity checks. This is designed to protect people from large losses.
How Will This Impact Poker
When it comes to high-risk gambling pursuits, it seems like the legislation is focusing on low-wagering and low-payout games such as slots. This could mean it also targets new genres primarily aimed at the younger generation, such as aviator. These are as far removed from poker as can be, which is primarily a skill-based game. In this respect, poker may escape with minor changes.
One that could impact poker players is the movement of deposit limits. Poker can be played for small amounts of money, but the joy of it is that as people improve, they can scale up to bigger games. A deposit limit could seriously impact bigger tournaments. For this, there must be an exemption for poker, as many people play professionally.
In the Netherlands, deposit limits are currently set at €300 for players between 18 and 24. The limit then rises to €700 for those who are older. While the amounts deposited and lost on average dropped after the introduction of limits, many warned that it had simply sent people to offshore sites to do their gambling.
In a country like the Netherlands, the player pool is quite small. Combined with low deposit limits, it is inevitable that people will look elsewhere for their poker fix. In the United States, the solution has been Multi-State Online Poker. This has allowed the expansion of the player pool and a regulatory framework. It may be that the Netherlands needs to look at this kind of option to safeguard its poker players.
