The Gaming Authority of the Netherlands (Kansspelautoriteit, KSA) has issued updated licensing rules requiring all online gambling operators to have a formal exit plan covering the withdrawal from the Dutch market prepared and submitted. These changes are being put in place in anticipation of license renewals scheduled for next year.
Having been promulgated in the Official Gazette of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 2nd September, the new requirements shall come into force on 1st January 2026. Thus, the new regime comes into force just prior to the expiration of the current five-year licenses that were issued in September 2021 and will expire on 1st October 2026.
There is now a stipulation that operators must present an exit plan with their license application, detailing the procedure for stopping operations in the Netherlands if the license is denied renewal. This exit plan shall cover: legal, financial, organizational, technical, and communications methods on how they intend to pay customers during the actual market exit.
An additional reliability test will be part of the licensing process. Operators, who have been denied access due to Dutch court rulings, should be viewed as unsuitable for licensing. Applicants must demonstrate compliance with anti-money laundering regulations and duty of care obligations.
“When opening the online market, the legislator deliberately chose to issue permits with a term of up to five years. When using a fixed-term permit, the legislator intended that the KSA would take into consideration the supervisory experience gained with every application for a follow-up license,” says the Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA).
Operators with a history of accidents or mistakes in the last five years must include a statement in their applications explaining what they have learned from these errors and what actions they intend to take in the future to prevent their recurrence. Not providing enough explanation will cause either refusal of the license or the imposition of further conditions and restrictions on the applicant by the KSA.