Dutch Parliament Unites on Illegal Gambling Enforcement, Age Debate Paused

^{The Dutch House of Representatives debated gambling policy for three hours on 3 September 2026, with illegal-market enforcement the one issue uniting nearly every party. (Photo: Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed / Wikimedia Commons)}

Members of the Dutch House of Representatives spent three hours on 3 September 2026 debating gambling policy, and found rare cross-party agreement on one point: enforcement against illegal gambling sites needs to move faster. The Justitie en Veiligheid committee's Commissiedebat Kansspelen, chaired by B.J. Eerdmans, drew nine MPs spanning ChristenUnie, VVD, SGP, PRO, CDA, D66, FVD, SP and the Keijzer group.

The session, held in the Tweede Kamer's Troelstrazaal, worked through several government letters, including Justice and Security State Secretary K.T. van Bruggen's spring 2026 monitoring report on online gambling and a study ranking the addiction risk of individual gambling products, according to the Tweede Kamer's own published agenda for the debate.

Cross-Party Push on Illegal Sites

MPs from ChristenUnie, PRO and SGP were among those who argued that the government should be able to block illegal gambling websites as quickly as it can act against sites hosting terrorist content or child pornography. Several members also pushed for the gambling regulator, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), to be given stronger powers over payment providers, social media platforms and affiliates that help illegal operators reach Dutch players.

Van Bruggen told the committee the cabinet is developing legislation to introduce DNS blocking of illegal gambling sites, with a public consultation on the plan due in early 2027.

The pressure follows the KSA's own estimate, cited in Van Bruggen's monitoring report, that channelisation, the share of Dutch gambling activity flowing through licensed operators, has dropped below 50%. Trade groups have already tried to fill part of the enforcement gap themselves; a coalition of Dutch operators launched a reporting portal last year aimed at flagging illegal offers faster than the regulator alone could manage.

Meta and Google Pledge Ongoing Talks

Committee members raised the growing volume of illegal-site advertising appearing on social media platforms. Van Bruggen said the government would keep an open channel with the two biggest platforms carrying that advertising, telling the committee that 'Meta, especially as one of the parties, but also Google, is really open to this conversation.' She committed to giving the committee a report on illegal gambling advertising across those platforms every six months, and said she also wanted the issue addressed at the EU level through the Digital Services Act.

Age Limit Debate Put on Hold

Several MPs, including the SGP's Diederik van Dijk and the CDA's Tijs van den Brink, pressed again for the legal gambling age to rise from 18 to 21, an idea first proposed in a 2025 bill targeting higher-risk products such as online slots. Van Bruggen resisted, telling members more evidence is needed on whether raising the age limit would simply push younger players toward unlicensed sites, the risk that has already pushed some Dutch gamblers toward offshore casinos under the country's existing deposit caps.

Van Dijk went further, calling for a full reversal of the Netherlands' 2021 online gambling legalisation and a blanket ban on all gambling advertising, including for lotteries and land-based casinos. Van Bruggen said tackling the illegal market properly comes first: any renewed push on the age limit will wait until enforcement against unlicensed operators shows results, part of the broader policy review the government has under way. No date has been set for the DNS-blocking consultation to open or for the age-limit question to return to committee.