Holland Casino marks 50 years since first Zandvoort opening

Holland Casino marked 50 years on 1 October 2026, half a century after the first venue of the state-owned operator opened in Zandvoort on 1 October 1976. The company now operates 13 casinos and offers online gambling through Holland Casino Online, according to a company post on LinkedIn marking the anniversary.

The operator's history dates to 1971, when the Nationale Stichting Casinospelen was founded, following lobbying that included KLM and several banks, alongside politicians, for the legalisation of casino games in the Netherlands. A legislative proposal by the VVD and the Katholieke Volkspartij to legalise casino games was adopted in 1974. On 17 December 1975 the Dutch government granted the monopoly licence for casino games to the Nationale Stichting tot Exploitatie van Casinospelen in Nederland, and a year later the foundation opened the first Holland Casino venue in Zandvoort, where games such as blackjack and roulette were offered legally in the Netherlands for the first time.

The Zandvoort venue has since closed permanently. Visitors gambled there for the last time on 1 February 2025, when the final roulette ball landed on 15 black. The casino closed because of disappointing results at the state-owned operator and criticism from politicians. Holland Casino's remaining casinos are in Amsterdam Centrum, Amsterdam Sloterdijk, Breda, Eindhoven, Enschede, Groningen, Leeuwarden, Nijmegen, Rotterdam, Scheveningen, Utrecht, Valkenburg and Venlo.

The Groningen casino currently operates from a temporary location at Sontplein after a fire destroyed the previous site. A new Holland Casino Groningen is to be built at Businesspark Ter Borch along the A7 and, if the latest planning holds, will open in 2028.

Holland Casino also runs the Mega Millions Jackpot, a progressive jackpot with a starting amount of €1m, linked through 120 slot machines across all 13 venues, and it is the only provider of land-based poker in the Netherlands. Several venues have won awards in domestic and foreign votes in recent years: One Time named a Holland Casino venue the best casino in the Netherlands four times, in 2018 (HC Nijmegen), 2020 (HC Casino Amsterdam-West, now HC Sloterdijk), 2022 (Venlo) and 2025 (HC Amsterdam Centrum). Holland Casino was named Best Multiple Casino Operator at the European Casino Awards in 2023, and the Venlo venue won best casino in Europe at the European Casino Awards in 2024. This year the operator also won several awards at the Slot Floor Excellence Awards, where Storm Bertelkamp was named Talent of the Year.

Holland Casino had plans for a legal online casino since 2006 but waited until 2021 to go live digitally. Since the Dutch online gambling market opened five years ago, the state-owned operator has offered legal online gambling through Holland Casino Online, which has received a new licence from the Kansspelautoriteit allowing it to offer online games in the Netherlands for the next five years. The site offers online slots, live casino games, sports betting and online poker. Holland Casino Online also offered online bingo shortly after launch, but the state-owned casino ended the online bingo section in September 2024.

In its LinkedIn post, Holland Casino said: "Vandaag vieren we een bijzondere mijlpaal: 50 jaar Holland Casino." The company said the anniversary centred on people, including colleagues, guests and relations, and that while much had changed in 50 years, the commitment of the people behind and around the organisation had stayed the same. It closed with: "Op naar het volgende hoofdstuk."