First Dutch online gambling licence renewals confirmed ahead of 2026 expiry

The KSA has completed its first five-year review of the Netherlands’ regulated online gambling market and renewed eight licences. For PSPs and operators, the important bit is that the regulator is now looking harder at compliance history, remediation, governance, and even exit planning, not just whether a licence holder can tick the basic legal boxes.

1. The Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), renewed eight online gambling licences as part of the first five-year review since the market launched in October 2021. The renewed licences allow the operators to continue offering legal online gambling services in the Netherlands from October 1 2026 until September 30 2031.
2. The operators that have been renewed so far are TOTO Online BV, which runs the TOTO and Winnitt brands, Holland Casino NV’s Holland Casino Online, Play North Limited’s Kansino, FPO Nederland BV’s FairPlay Casino, Bingoal Nederland BV, Hillside (New Media Malta) Plc, which operates Bet365, NSUS Malta Limited, the operator of GG Poker, and Betent BV, which owns Betcity. Bingoal and TOTO Online had already said last month that they received renewals.
3. The KSA said the process was stricter than a standard reissue. It placed greater emphasis on compliance records, corrective actions for past breaches, governance standards, and a new requirement for operators to submit market exit plans. In other words, this is not just a paperwork exercise; the regulator wants to see how an operator behaves when things go wrong and what happens if it leaves the market.
4. Some applicants received licences with “additional points for attention”. The KSA said these operators met the legal standards, but it expects further improvements in compliance and governance. TOTO Online was specifically criticised in June after breaching a ban on the use of role models in gambling advertising, which is the kind of issue that can now matter in a renewal review instead of being treated as a standalone footnote.
5. The renewed licence holders are a mix of domestic and international businesses already active in the Dutch market. No new operators have been approved through the renewal process so far. The list also reflects market churn since regulation began: LiveScore and Tombola, both part of the original 10 operators licensed in 2021, withdrew from the Netherlands in 2024.

The KSA had already renewed state-controlled Lotto BV’s lottery and sports betting monopoly licences for five years, despite a pending appeal before the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State over the lawfulness of the continuation of the monopoly system in those verticals. The regulator said it would have preferred to wait for that ruling, but decided it had to act before the current licences expire at the end of this year.