Vergunde Nederlandse Online Kansspelaanbieders (VNLOK) has described the online gambling advertising ban proposed by the Netherlands’ coalition government (D66, VVD and CDA) as ‘unreasonable and ineffective’.
The Dutch government’s recently published Getting started, building a better Netherlands coalition agreement has proposed to ban online gambling advertising, strengthening online operators’ duty of care, cracking down on illegal gambling sites and exploring limiting the number of online operator licences.
Online operators in the Netherlands are currently banned from untargeted advertising, prohibiting gambling advertisements on TV, radio, print media and in public spaces. A complete ban on online gambling advertising would take this one step further.
Rethink approach
Dutch gambling’s trade body VNLOK has stated that it shares the government’s goal of improving protections for players and combating the black market, but is encouraging a rethink on how to approach the matter.
“Dutch gambling policy is deliberately designed around an open, regulated market with strict requirements for duty of care, advertising and oversight,” said Björn Fuchs, chair of VNLOK.
“This system only works if the legal, safe offering remains visible to the player. A total ban on advertising undermines precisely that principle.”
The trade body has recently published data showing that analysis of Meta’s ads library between October 2025 and December 2025 revealed “more than 95% of the gambling promotions found—both Facebook pages and advertisements” were from black market operators.
Only a small portion of these ads were removed by Meta, with the association calling for “faster and more robust measures” as a result.
Fuchs stated: “In practice, public outrage over gambling advertisements is primarily focused on a tsunami of illegal advertisements. It is unreasonable and ineffective to subsequently ban only legal providers from being visible.”
VNLOK also agreed that more work on duty of care is needed, but noted that “more written regulations are not automatically the solution”, in addition to the fact that effectiveness, feasibility and improved cooperation between stakeholders are crucial.
The trade body added that limiting the number of licences in the online market “does not automatically lead to a safer or better offering. Quality is guaranteed by strict requirements and effective oversight, not by scarcity”.
Action plan
VNLOK has recently called for the following three actions to be undertaken to improve player protections:
- Meta must improve proactive detection, advertiser verification and rapid takedown processes for illegal gambling promotions.
- More enforcement action must be taken by the Netherlands gambling authority within existing legal frameworks against marketing companies and platforms that facilitate advertisements and/or content that direct Dutch consumers to illegal gambling websites.
- Policymakers and regulators must make sure additional rules and restrictions don’t compromise legal online gambling’s visibility and attractiveness, as it could result in Dutch consumers’ net protection decreasing.
The trade body also said in response to the coalition agreement: “VNLOK urges the government to adhere to the original principle in further developing the policy: channelling towards a safe, legal and recognisable offering. Only in this way can players be protected and crime truly reduced.”
This story was first published on Affiliate Leaders’ sister title, iGaming Expert.
