Dutch regulator works with Google on EU gambling operator list to tackle illegal advertising

Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa), the Dutch gambling regulator, is collaborating with Google on a register covering licensed gambling operators across the European Union, according to comments from its chairman. Such a list would let the technology company determine which gambling advertisers hold authorisation and which do not, so that unlicensed ones could be kept off its platforms. Work on the project continues, and no start date for the list has been made public.

The work forms part of a wider effort involving Google, Meta and several European gambling regulators. In spring 2026, representatives of the Ksa and other European regulatory authorities travelled to Dublin, where Google and Meta have their European headquarters, for discussions on limiting the visibility of illegal gambling operators and on ways to stop unauthorised businesses reaching European consumers through major online platforms. One result was a joint task force, whose projects include the proposed register of gambling companies authorised to operate in the European Union.

Licensing rules for gambling and for advertising are not uniform across Europe. Authorisation obtained in a single member state therefore carries no automatic right to promote gambling services EU-wide, the Ksa noted. How far a shared register would actually work thus hinges on the way it handles the licensing requirements of each country. Questions about how often the register would be refreshed, how national advertising restrictions would be built in, and whether Meta would set up a similar verification system remain unanswered by the regulator.

Michel Groothuizen, the Ksa's chairman, has made public data indicating that about 90% of Dutch online gamblers confine themselves to licensed operators. Even so, illegal sites take in roughly half of all online gambling spending, a share that mirrors the regulator's stated ratio of one euro wagered illegally for every euro wagered legally. The chairman released these figures on 14 October 2026, a date that fell five years after the regulated Dutch online gambling market opened in October 2021.

According to Groothuizen, enforcement can draw clear legal lines even when it does not persuade illegal businesses to alter how they operate, and actually recovering the financial penalties has turned out to be far harder than imposing them. For roughly the last year and a half, the Ksa has leaned more and more on a different tactic: making illegal gambling sites less easy to locate and cutting off the payment services that keep them running. This direction was already visible in the regulator's 2026 supervisory agenda, where illegal gambling, player protection and advertising oversight appeared among the main priorities.

In the Ksa's view, large technology firms earn considerable income from advertising tied to illegal gambling, and the regulator worries about promotions aimed at vulnerable consumers, such as content reaching minors and people enrolled in gambling self-exclusion schemes. Groothuizen put the number of such advertisements in the thousands, and possibly far higher. Dutch law and the EU's Digital Services Act are both seen by the regulator as possible legal avenues, yet cases against very large online platforms under the relevant Digital Services Act rules are handled by the European Commission; the Ksa may provide evidence and back a European case, but it cannot itself impose the Commission's penalties.

Groothuizen also acknowledged the practical difficulties of court action against major technology companies, citing extensive disputes over evidence, substantial legal costs and appeals potentially lasting several years, with a final judgment possibly taking as long as five years and no guarantee that the regulator would prevail. The Ksa therefore currently sees negotiated changes as a potentially faster route. It is preparing for possible enforcement proceedings alongside the talks, and Groothuizen has said the Ksa will consider taking a major platform to court if voluntary measures prove insufficient.

A call for tougher action against the big online platforms that help distribute illegal gambling advertising came from VVD politician Bart Bikkers during a parliamentary committee debate in September. Justin Franssen, a gambling lawyer, has likewise pushed for a firmer regulatory stance toward large technology companies.