Dutch parliament united in fight against black market, government promises open dialogue with Meta and Google

During a debate at the Gambling Committee on Thursday, the Dutch House of Representatives vowed to speed up and tighten enforcement on illegal sites.

The three-hour debate on the Dutch gambling sector focused on a number of issues, including the illegal market, advertising and the legal age limit of 18.

Ten members of the committee, representing the entire political spectrum, presented a range of research papers, reports on the sector’s performance and a letter from Secretary of State for Justice KT van Bruggen dated April 2026, assessing the risks of gambling and acknowledging the KSA’s assessment that sewerage had fallen below 50%.

Although opinions varied on much of the content, one area in which Dutch parliamentarians were united was the illegal market.

Most parties, including those representing ChristenUnie, PRO and SGP, expressed the view that it is necessary to strengthen enforcement measures against black market operators.

Members of the organization have pushed the government to take further action to block illegal websites, just as it provides an opportunity to quickly tackle terrorist and child pornography sites.

Members have called for greater powers to be given to the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling regulator, with tougher action taken against payment providers, social networking sites and affiliates that facilitate illegal gambling.

Van Bruggen said the cabinet was in the process of drafting legislation to introduce DNS blocking for illegal sites, with consultations due to take place in early 2027.

Participants noted the growing problem of advertisements for illegal gambling sites appearing on social media, a problem that the sector in the Netherlands is trying to address directly through legal action against Meta.

Speaking on behalf of the government, Van Bruggen said: “Meta, especially as one of the parties, and also Google are really open to this conversation.”

She said the government would receive a report every six months on illegal gambling advertising on these platforms. She insisted that the issue should also be addressed at EU level through the Digital Services Act.

VVD party candidates have called on the government to take a “tougher stance” on these big tech platforms.

The age of gambling is being debated again

Some politicians have suggested that the legal gambling age in the Netherlands should be raised to 21 from the current barrier of 18.

This is not the first time this policy has been discussed in the Dutch parliament. The 2025 bill proposed raising the age for “high-risk” activities such as online slots.

Van Bruggen insisted more time was needed to establish whether raising the age limit to 21 would actually have the adverse effect of pushing young people in the Netherlands towards unlicensed offers.

Among those pushing for the age limit to be raised were Diederik van Dijk of the SGP and Thijs van den Brink of the CDA.

Van Bruggen said the issue would be raised in subsequent progress reports.

Van Dijk calls for a complete repeal of gambling legislation

In addition to raising the age limit to 21, Van Dijk called for the complete de-legalization of online gambling in the Netherlands in 2021, which helped create a fairly mature legal gambling market for the sector until restrictions on players were tightened and taxes were increased in recent years.

Van Dijk also suggested that all gambling advertising should be banned, including lotteries and land-based casinos.

He also questioned the government’s involvement in the state-owned Holland Casino and Nederlandse Loterij, particularly in its assessment of how to limit gambling harm.

Holland Casino CEO Petra de Ruiter told iGB last week that she was proud of the efforts to protect players across all Holland Casino products.

Holland Casino has a Responsible Gaming Council made up of academics, experts with real-world experience and RG’s own executives. They meet with the board of directors every few months to discuss current processes, and the board challenges the operator’s ideas and implementations.

Much of the debate has focused on stricter oversight and protection of players. Ultimately, the Secretary of State said that work to tighten controls on the black market would have precedent in the Netherlands, and the issue of raising the gambling age could be revisited once the illegal market was brought under control.

“It’s time to properly address this illegal proposal so that we can get closer to the point where we actually have to move to raising the age. If it turns out that it’s not necessary, we won’t do it,” she said.