Netherlands Tightens Online Gambling Rules with Near-Total Ad Ban and Stricter Safeguards

What the New Rules Actually Cover

Under the plans, all advertising for online gambling would in principle be prohibited. The announcement and the letter to parliament set out these measures:

• A ban on online gambling advertising. The only exceptions under consideration are the operator's own website and ads shown in results of explicit searches for online gambling sites.
• A ban on bonuses, including free play when opening an account and rewards for existing customers.
• A single deposit limit across all licensed providers and games combined, recorded in a central system run by the KSA. Players who want a higher limit would have to pass an affordability test.
• Changes to Cruks, the national self-exclusion register, so that people can exclude themselves indefinitely and relatives or financial administrators can register someone more easily.
• More tools against illegal sites, such as website blocking and clear legal duties for payment processors and hosting companies that enable them.
• A study of whether to limit the number of online gambling licences.

The minimum age stays at 18. A previous cabinet had proposed raising it to 21 for high-risk online games, but the government now fears this would push young adults toward illegal sites, NOS reports.

Public support for tougher rules appears strong. According to NL Times, figures from the Consumers' Association suggest that around 84% of consumers back a full advertising ban, and the SP and ChristenUnie are pushing for even tougher rules, particularly on so-called dark patterns in game and platform design.

What Is Portugal Planning Against Illegal Gambling?

The Netherlands is not the only European market changing its rules in 2026. On 8 June 2026 Portugal's Economy Minister Manuel Castro Almeida said the government would approve legislation that summer to update the country's online gambling rules and strengthen action against unlicensed operators, Lusa reported.

That bill had not been published by mid-September. Before a parliamentary debate on online gambling on 17 September 2026, called by the Livre party, Livre's parliamentary leader Isabel Mendes Lopes said the government's legislation was still not known, Renascença reported.

In that debate, Secretary of State for Tourism Pedro Machado said the government was considering changes to the Advertising Code to tighten rules on minors' exposure to gambling ads, sponsorship, promotional material and the use of public figures, ECO reported.

At the June launch of a public awareness campaign titled 'Not everything you see is safe gambling', the minister described illegal gambling as a plague and said the response would focus on oversight, sanctions, active prevention and public awareness. He also asked the public bodies behind the campaign, including the SRIJ, to suggest changes to the law if they needed them.

Portugal has already made responsible gambling improvements. On 8 April 2026 the SRIJ, the country's gaming regulator, introduced a new online self-exclusion form; a self-exclusion made through it applies to every licensed online operator. Self-excluded player registrations reached about 380,500 at the end of March 2026, up 23.1% from 309,100 a year earlier, according to the SRIJ's first-quarter 2026 report.

Parliament had earlier rejected a proposal from the opposition Livre party to amend the online gambling rules. It did pass Resolution No. 161/2025, published in October 2025, which recommends that the government strengthen consumer protection, combat illegal gambling and modernise regulation.