As 2023 has officially made its way, it is time to dive into what the new year has to bring for casino enthusiasts. This is particularly interesting for the iGaming market in the Netherlands, one of the latest countries in the EU to legalize online casinos..
While big names returned to the Dutch market in 2022, the same is expected for this year with various Scandinavian casinos with Dutch roots relaunching their services in the country. A fair number of international operators will also bring their business and other new online casinos in the Netherlands are expected to announce their arrival. Combined, this will lead to what CasinoScout.nl refers to as “a new wave of regulated online casinos”.
Licensing process will be less strict
Several well-known operators have already announced that they have officially applied for a license from the Dutch gaming regulator and expect to go live in either Q1 or Q2 of 2023. Last year has shown to be difficult to pinpoint the exact moment of launch as applying for a permit in the Netherlands has turned out to be a time-consuming process. Typically, six months are indicated between application and issue.
In November, the Dutch gaming regulator announced that as of December 1, 2022 online casinos were required to provide less information to apply for a license in the Netherlands. This should easen the application process for future interested operators, although the first reports are yet to be made about the updated procedure. The latest online casinos to launch their services in the Netherlands went live in November 2022.
“2023 promises to be a fruitful year with the arrival of various international online casinos and the return of well-known names among Dutch players. I am especially looking forward to the arrival of the Swedish brands (re)launching their platforms.” Simon Lucas, senior content editor for CasinoScout.nl
Several new online casinos in 2023
According to CasinoScout.nl the new year is going to be a “promising one” with potential action to happen in the first quarter of 2023. The wave of new online casinos in the Netherlands consists of three groups: (1) (international) operators active in both sports betting and casino gaming that have announced their license application, (2) license holders that have not yet launched their platforms, (3) new operators who still need to apply for a license.
● Big names that will make their way to the Netherlands 2023 are predominantly Sweden and Malta based. Some of the operators are expected to launch three different websites, underlining the potential of the Dutch casino market, generating a net turnover of € 689,7 million between October 2021 and July 2022. This number is based on gambling tax reports of the Dutch Ministry of Finance.
● Next, there are also a number of providers who already have obtained a license, but have not yet launched their website. No further details have been released about the reasons for not launching their sites and when this is expected to occur.
● It is expected that other operators will also announce their arrival in 2023, as the Dutch market offers space for both Dutch and foreign iGaming concerns. There is still room for new brands with the current number of licensed companies standing at 24. There is no maximum number of casinos, although the Dutch regulator has stated in the past that it expects the market to grow to 45 casino brands in total.
About CasinoScout.nl
CasinoScout.nl is an independent online casino news medium based in the Netherlands. Throughout the years, CasinoScout.nl has proved to be a solid name in the industry with a total of 2,7 million visitors since their launch in the Netherlands. The team behind CasinoScout.nl is made up of experts with years of experience in both the offline and land based casino market. CasinoScout.nl is therefore able to transfer knowledge to gaming enthusiasts in an accessible and transparent way — conveniently brought from a player perspective. CasinoScout.nl only promotes casinos that hold a valid Dutch gaming license.
