The Netherlands’ gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa), says social acceptance of gambling is on the rise: one in four Dutch adults report that people around them see gambling as normal behavior. The findings suggest social norms are playing a bigger role in participation and could make early signs of harm harder to spot—an issue that overlaps with the country’s tightening responsible-gambling and advertising rules.
Key findings from the Ksa survey
The Ksa commissioned a survey of 1,000 Dutch residents to support its public information initiative OpenOverGokken. The results show how attitudes and social settings can shape gambling behavior and whether people seek help:
- Normalization: 24% say their social circle considers gambling normal; 32% among men versus 16% among women.
- Social influence: 43% say they’d be less likely to gamble if no one around them did; 22% have gamblers in their immediate circle.
- Framing of outcomes: 18% regularly hear that gambling is a quick way to make money.
- Attribution of harm: 75% see gambling problems mainly as the result of poor personal decisions.
- Reported impacts: 11% say gambling has directly affected their work, studies, relationships, or sleep.
- Visibility of harm: 76% believe a gambling addiction isn’t outwardly visible.
- Barriers to help: 29% say they would not dare to seek help if they had a gambling addiction; 34% find it difficult to address someone else’s gambling.
“Gambling problems rarely appear overnight and often remain under the radar, partly because gambling is seen as normal in people’s environments. That makes it hard to recognise when gambling becomes problematic, let alone to start a conversation about it,” said Michel Groothuizen, chair of the Ksa.
Why this matters for the online casino market
Normalization shapes how players judge risk and how operators and regulators spot harm. The survey indicates that talk of wins and success stories tends to dominate, while harms are less visible and more stigmatized. For operators, that means stronger duty-of-care that doesn’t lean on self-disclosure alone and marketing that avoids glamorizing outcomes. For policymakers, higher acceptance could keep up pressure for tighter guardrails if measured harm doesn’t fall.
In practice, socially driven paths into play can blunt the effect of formal ad restrictions. As mass-market ads are curtailed, peer influence, social channels, and community norms may take a bigger role in recruitment and retention, shifting the prevention challenge from exposure control to behavioral monitoring and timely intervention.
Regulatory context in the Netherlands
The Dutch remote market opened in October 2021 under the Remote Gambling Act. Since then, the Ksa and the government have steadily tightened consumer protections and marketing limits:
- A ban on using role models in gambling ads took effect in 2022.
- Untargeted gambling advertising has been prohibited since July 2023.
- A ban on sponsorship by high-risk gambling providers is slated for mid-2025.
- The Ksa has reinforced duty-of-care expectations for operators, including earlier and more substantive interventions with young adults and high-risk play patterns.
Against this backdrop, the Ksa’s focus on social norms and stigma points to a complementary public-health approach: curb glamorization while promoting earlier recognition of, and response to, problematic play. The findings may also guide future consultations on incentives and player-interaction standards, especially for products seen as high risk.
Implications for operators and compliance teams
The data points to three operational priorities:
- Early detection: Relying on self-reporting isn’t enough where stigma runs high; behavioral markers and proactive outreach remain critical.
- Marketing scrutiny: Stories that emphasize quick wins risk reinforcing normalization; staying aligned with ad restrictions and content standards is essential.
- Vulnerable cohorts: Gender and age gaps in perceived normality suggest targeted safeguards for young adults and other at-risk groups, consistent with Ksa guidance.
Methodology notes
The survey covers 1,000 adults in the Netherlands. The Ksa says the results come from research conducted for its OpenOverGokken information platform. The regulator did not disclose detailed sampling or weighting in the summary; treat the findings as indicative attitudes rather than precise prevalence metrics.
Conclusion
The Ksa’s survey links rising social acceptance of gambling with higher participation and slower recognition of harm. With mass advertising already constrained, peer influence may increasingly shape behavior, putting more weight on operators’ duty-of-care systems and on messaging that doesn’t normalize or glamorize gambling. The results give regulators fresh evidence to calibrate enforcement and consumer-protection measures in the maturing Dutch online market.