Posted on: August 29, 2023, 06:47h.
Last updated on: August 29, 2023, 06:47h.
The Dutch have been given the green light to bet on licensed online casinos since late 2021. The market has been thriving ever since, providing a boost to the government’s revenue. In the past year, the Netherlands has earned nearly $1 billion from gambling taxes.
Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gaming regulator, reveals that approximately one in twenty Dutch individuals gambled on a licensed online platform last year. This contributed to the government collecting €900 million (US$973 million) in gambling taxes for 2022.
With the Dutch government approving more licenses and more people turning to online gambling platforms, this figure is expected to rise even further. KSA data shows that 60% of online gamblers had never gambled before the introduction of iGaming.
Continued Growth in Gambling
In 2022, the Dutch iGaming industry generated a gross gaming revenue (GGR) of €1.08 billion (US$1.16 billion) according to previous KSA data from April of this year. The second-half forecast projected an annual GGR of approximately €1.22 billion (US$1.31 billion), making the actual results unexpectedly higher.
However, the fourth quarter of last year experienced a significant surge in revenue, countering the earlier sluggishness. The GGR for the iGaming segment in Q4 reached €327 million (US$353.38 million), compared to €271 million (US$292.87 million) in the previous quarter.
As a result, 2022 ended on a positive note. The gambling industry as a whole saw growth, and despite missing its initial projections, the iGaming segment’s success cannot be overlooked. Just one year after its launch in October 2021, iGaming in the Netherlands was generating over €1 billion.
According to the same KSA report, this upward trend continued into January 2023, with a year-on-year growth of 37.7%. iGaming GGR increased from €90 million (US$97.26 million) in January 2022 to €123 million (US$132 million) in January 2023. Overall, the regulator expects an average annual increase of approximately 13-15% for 2023.
Return of Land-Based Gambling
In addition to the expansion of legalized online gambling, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic has also contributed to the boost in gambling taxes. Last year, Holland Casino was able to welcome more gamblers to its venues as operations returned to near-normal.
Although the tax revenue from gambling is impressive, it still represents only a small fraction of the total. Statistics from the Netherlands indicate that gambling taxes accounted for a minuscule portion of total government revenues.
According to the agency, all taxes and social contributions amounted to nearly €370 billion (US$399.86 billion) last year. Government revenue increased by 9% to €415.5 billion (US$449 billion), largely due to higher income from taxes on corporate profits and increased revenues from natural gas as a result of geopolitical developments.
The reduction of spending, including the removal of COVID-19 restrictions, contributed to the government’s surplus. The Dutch government was able to reduce the country’s deficit by 0.1% of its gross domestic product, resulting in a final deficit of €1.4 billion (US$1.51 billion). This is significantly lower than the €20.4 billion (US$22 billion) deficit carried by the government just a year earlier.