Dutch PM Says Tax Hike Aims to Discourage Gambling in the Country
In response to parliamentary questions on Sept. 19, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said the 7.3 percent gambling tax increase aims to “discourage gambling” in the Netherlands, as reported by Casino Nieuws.
“We want to discourage gambling, let there be no misunderstanding about that – but this is one of the reasons to look at it in a different way,” he said.
The measure will come into force from January 2026 after rising from 30.5 percent to 34.2 percent in January 2025. Schoof said one reason the tax increase had been postponed and staggered was to appease the sports industry, which relies in part on gambling revenues.
“One of the reasons to put it on hold for a while is also because of the great resistance that arose precisely in sports because money goes to sports via the funds,” Schoof said.
UKGC Takes Sorare to Court
The U.K. Gambling Commission (UKGC) has initiated legal proceedings against crypto fantasy sports site Sorare.com for providing unlicensed gambling to consumers in Britain. Sorare will appear at the Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on Oct. 4, charged with providing gambling facilities without a license in the UK.
Users of the site pay real money to trade digital player cards and can manage five-a-side football teams, as well as basketball and baseball teams. Players compete for cash prizes, merch and VIP experiences.
Multiple European gambling regulators have questioned Sorare’s business model in the past, wary of its similarities with betting exchanges. France’s ANJ initiated an investigation into its business in 2021.
But the business believes the UKGC has misunderstood its model and has wrongly determined that gambling laws apply to it.
Friction Points Fueling Black Market Growth, Warns Regulus
Player friction points like tax increases, spending caps and lack of choice are driving black market growth, a report by Regulus Partners and Entain has flagged. European regulators are increasingly enforcing tighter player protection measures that are pushing gamblers into the black market.
“Black markets in online gambling are created when consumers cannot access the products they want at prices and values that are not distorted within their own domestically regulated market,” the report warns.
The report suggests blocking unlicensed sites, as well as payments made to their IP addresses, could be the most successful measures for tackling the black market. It also calls for targeted social media ads to be prevented and for law enforcement to blacklist black market brands as various states in the U.S. have done to the Curacao-licensed betting site Bovada.
Dutch Operators Face Player Losses Lawsuit Dating Back to 2021
Dutch advocacy organization Gokverliesterug has initiated a class action lawsuit against a group of licensed online gambling operators in relation to their activities before being licensed in the country.
The Gokverliesterug lawsuit is seeking reimbursement on behalf of Dutch consumers for losses made prior to October 2021. The Netherlands launched its legal online gambling market on 1 October 2021 but several operators – which are now licensed – were active prior to this.
Specifically, the lawsuit names major operators such as Unibet, Bwin and PokerStars.
Player losses lawsuits have plagued operators in the neighboring markets of Germany and Austria. Typically, courts have ruled in favor of the player, although a recent case in Austria ordered one customer to pay back part of their winnings to the operator in question.
German Regulator Praises Public for Illegal Market Tipoffs
Germany’s gambling regulator, Gemeinsamen Glücksspielbehörde der Länder (GGL), has praised the country’s population for submitting 1,500 tips on illegal online gambling operators since January 2023.
Of the 1,500 reports made since the start of 2023, around half related to suspected cases of illegal online gambling. The other half, meanwhile, centered on possible irregularities at legal online providers.
GGL board member Ronald Benter hailed the public’s contribution to the authority’s crackdown on illegal operators and onshore companies straying toward the wrong side of regulation.
The GGL has also carried out its own investigations which led it to check over 1,860 websites and 483 gaming providers and advertisers for illegal gambling and the relevant marketing in 2023.
