The Netherlands Gambling Authority has called for a stronger European response to illegal gambling, warning that national enforcement alone cannot effectively confront operators whose businesses, advertising and financial networks extend across multiple jurisdictions.
Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) Chair Michel Groothuizen made the case following the Netherlands’ annual parliamentary gambling debate, arguing that the international nature of the black market received too little political attention despite growing concerns over unlicensed operators.
According to the KSA’s latest market monitoring figures, around 91% of Dutch online gamblers use only licensed providers. However, when the market is measured by gambling revenue rather than player numbers, legal operators account for only about 53% of the total. That indicates considerably heavier spending or losses among customers using unlicensed platforms.
Groothuizen said the scale of the problem requires governments and regulators to look beyond domestic enforcement. Illegal gambling companies can operate through businesses registered abroad, use international payment networks and promote their services through social-media and technology platforms that operate across Europe.
Enforcement pressure grows
The KSA has already made tackling illegal gambling one of its enforcement priorities in 2026.
Earlier this year, Groothuizen said the regulator intended to increase resources dedicated to disrupting the infrastructure used by unlicensed operators and work more closely with outside stakeholders. The authority has continued issuing enforcement orders against companies targeting Dutch consumers without a licence, including a September action against SkyGrow Group Limitada over the Boomerang.bet website.
However, the regulator believes financial penalties alone have limited impact against operators capable of rapidly changing corporate structures or conducting business from jurisdictions where Dutch enforcement powers have little reach.
Groothuizen also highlighted the consumer-protection risks created by the illegal sector. Unlicensed companies are not bound by Dutch safeguards covering gambling addiction, player intervention or the Cruks self-exclusion system. In his September 11 blog, the KSA chair said some illegal operators actively market themselves to people who have already excluded themselves from legal gambling through Cruks.
The authority estimates that unpaid gambling taxes connected with the illegal market represent more than €500m in lost revenue, although Groothuizen stressed that player protection remains the more serious concern.
Calls for stronger European coordination
Dutch lawmakers have discussed several additional measures against illegal gambling, including stronger website-blocking powers and allowing regulators to use false identities when investigating unlicensed platforms.
Social-media advertising has become another major concern. Illegal gambling businesses can use large technology platforms to reach customers across several countries at once, making enforcement more difficult for individual national regulators.
Groothuizen argued that European-level pressure may therefore be necessary to secure greater cooperation from technology companies and other businesses supporting the infrastructure used by offshore gambling operators.
The KSA already participates in cross-border regulatory networks including the Gambling Regulators European Forum and the International Association of Gaming Regulators. It also maintains cooperation agreements with regulators in jurisdictions including the UK, Belgium, France, Sweden and Malta.
Groothuizen nevertheless believes those existing arrangements need to be matched by greater political and enforcement capacity at European level.
His intervention comes as Dutch policymakers continue reviewing the country’s wider gambling framework, including player-protection rules, the number of licensed operators and further restrictions on gambling advertising.
For the KSA, however, the central challenge is increasingly international: illegal operators, payments and digital advertising move easily across national borders, while enforcement powers remain largely domestic. Groothuizen’s message is that Europe will need to close that gap if regulators are to substantially reduce the black market.