Dutch regulator KSA finds 11% of gambling accounts opened by 18-year-olds were created on their birthday

The Dutch Gaming Authority (KSA) has published three studies pointing to a familiar high-risk payment problem: many players start before they are legally allowed to, then flood in the moment they turn 18. For PSPs, that means onboarding, age checks, and payment behavior are not separate issues — they are the same risk showing up at different points in the funnel.

1. Analysing new account registrations from 1-7 May 2025, KSA’s control database found 15,761 newly funded gambling accounts. Young adults aged 18-24 made up 33% of new accounts, and 41% of those accounts were opened by newly turned 18-year-olds.
2. The “birthday effect” is hard to miss. In 2024-25, 11% of accounts opened by 18-year-olds were registered on their birthday, and 38% were registered within a month. In practice, that gives operators a very tight window where age verification, source-of-funds controls, and first-deposit checks need to work properly.
3. The product mix is also telling. KSA found that 72% of young adult accounts started with casino games, while only 11% started with sports betting. Young adults averaged four gambling days per month in their first quarter, with median daily stakes of €111 versus €209 for older adults.
4. Account behaviour changes by age as well. Among young adults, 18-year-olds gamble more frequently but with lower stakes than 19-24-year-olds. Accounts that started with casino-only or sport-only products tended to stay consistent in month two, while dual-product accounts often shifted to casino-only.
5. One qualitative study, Kansspelreis < 18 jaar in beeld, conducted by Youngworks and commissioned by ZonMw, interviewed 50 young people aged 16 to 21. It found that first contact with gambling commonly happened between ages 8 and 12, often through family activities such as Christmas scratchcards, lotteries and casual betting games at home.

The same study found that between ages 12 and 14, independent gambling typically begins and is mostly social: betting with friends, poker games and football-related “toto” pools. Minors often bypass age limits by sharing online gambling accounts with older friends or family members and pooling money through mobile payment apps such as Tikkie.

Platforms named in the report include TOTO, Bet365, BetCity and Unibet, with gambling ads appearing on TikTok, sports broadcasts and outdoor venues. In June, the cabinet proposed a near-total ban on online gambling advertising, with only narrow exceptions.