Netherlands' 2025 Gambling Law Changes: What It Means for Online Poker

The Netherlands is revising its gambling laws, which were originally set out in 2021. Teun Struycken, the Secretary of State, has proposed that a new gambling bill will be in place by the end of the year. The current Betting and Gaming Act (KOA) has led to an increase in problem gambling, with a 24.2% year-on-year growth in 2023. The main change is that the legislation is going to have a more consumer-centric approach, primarily aimed at reducing the risks of gambling.

The poker industry in Europe is now worth €123.4 billion, with a large part of that coming from the Netherlands. Tighter regulations on advertising will be introduced, limiting promotions to only the essential and necessary ones. Deposit limits are currently set at €300 for players between 18 and 24, and the limit rises to €700 for those who are older. In the United States, the solution has been Multi-State Online Poker, which has allowed the expansion of the player pool and a regulatory framework.

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 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.