Duty of Care research 2025

What are Dutch online gambling operators doing to protect players from gambling addiction? This question is central to the annual Duty of Care Research by Casino.nl. With this research, we aim to make a constructive contribution to the public debate on responsible gambling and the implementation of the duty of care by legal operators.

Last update: 9th of April 2025 – For Dutch version, click here. Full report available for download at the bottom of this page.

The Duty of Care Research 2025, conducted by Casino.nl from October 2024 to March 2025, analyses the information and tools that 25 licensed operators offer to players on their websites. We analysed the presence of 37 legal obligations and 38 optional informational points on the websites. The result provides insight into how the sector is evolving in terms of education, prevention, and intervention.

Casino.nl gives license holders the opportunity to respond to our research. We will mention the responses and any follow-up actions at the bottom of this page. Disclaimer: Casino.nl has commercial partnerships with some of the operators mentioned in this report. This research was conducted independently and prepared without interference from these parties. The author has no personal commercial interests with the providers investigated.

Playing at legal online casinos? Check out online casinos in the Netherlands.

What is the duty of care?

Online gambling has been legalised in the Netherlands for various reasons. One of the reasons for regulating online gambling was to maintain control and protect players. Enthusiasts of online gambling had to be diverted from illegal gambling sites and “canalised”, that is, guided towards the legal offerings. Licensed operators from the Gambling Authority (Ksa) are subject to monitoring and must have an adequate policy for responsible gaming. Operators with a licence from the Ksa must therefore comply with a so-called duty of care. The duty of care means that online gambling operators in the Netherlands must look after their customers. How this is to be done is quite flexible and up to the gambling operators to define. The Ksa holds the responsibility for the casino’s duty of care with the players and the casinos. How well this works is something we will discuss based on our findings.

Want to know more? Read all about the gambling law Koa.

The Ksa concluded in September 2023 that there needs to be “quicker and better” intervention by gambling sites. Based on the report “Report on the research into the implementation of the duty of care by online gambling operators,” the regulator is calling for casinos to implement real-time monitoring. The fact that both the research results and recommendations are unclear is, according to the Ksa itself, due to the flexible implementation of the duty of care and the monitoring methodology used by the gambling platforms. A lot has happened since then, including the fact that as of 1 October 2024, legal deposit limits apply.

Read more about deposit limits

Research method

For the Duty of Care Research 2025, Casino.nl conducted a content analysis of the websites of 25 legal online gambling operators in the Netherlands. We examined both the desktop and mobile versions of the sites from two perspectives: as an unauthenticated guest and as a logged-in player. We did this because last year we received feedback that information we couldn’t find on a desktop site might be available on the mobile site. However, this does not change the fact that content should be the same, regardless of the device used.

Using a pre-prepared checklist, we checked 37 legal obligations and 38 additional, optional informational points for each operator. The checklist is based on the applicable laws and regulations, including the Koa Act, the Koa Decree, and the Gaming Limits Regulation.

Together with two independent researchers who created accounts, we collected all the data. The results were then shared with the operators, who were given the opportunity to provide feedback and correct any factual inaccuracies. In some cases, this led to adjustments in our data.

Want to know more? Read all about the Gambling Authority (KSA).

25 operators? But there are 27 live…

That’s right.

Winnitt was not treated separately because it is part of TOTO and shares the same domain name.

And we did not include ScoriPro because, somewhat embarrassingly, this operator escaped our attention. Our focus is on casinos, occasionally we also pay attention to sports betting, but fantasy sports… that’s not really in our system yet… When we realised this, they had already informed us by email that they did not want to provide feedback or participate. Due to our timelines and capacity, we therefore decided not to include this operator in the analysis this year. This does not mean we are passing judgment on their compliance with the duty of care – it was purely a practical and content-based decision.

Want to know more? Read all about CRUKS.

The main findings

The Duty of Care Research 2025 shows that Dutch gambling operators are making progress in some areas, but the implementation of the duty of care still varies greatly. While almost all operators meet the minimum legal requirements, there are significant differences in how they inform, support, and protect players.

Visibility and findability

An interesting finding is that only half of the operators place a direct link to “Responsible Gambling” at the top of the website, which is precisely where players would expect to find information most quickly. The legally required warning “What does gambling cost you? Stop in time. 18+” is clearly visible on half of the websites, while the other half only displays this message at the bottom of the page or in promotions. This raises questions about the accessibility of crucial information.

Education about addiction

The basic information – such as excluding minors and referring to Cruks – is present almost everywhere. However, depth is often lacking. Only a small number of operators specifically address what gambling addiction is, what symptoms may occur, and the risks it entails. Important topics such as cognitive impairments and suicide risks remain underexposed.

Preventive tools

All the operators we examined offer deposit, balance, and time limits, as required by law. There is also a self-test available with everyone, but the quality and presentation of these tests vary significantly. Only a handful of operators use visual or interactive tools to give players better insight into their behaviour. Fewer than half offer a clear risk matrix that categorises games by risk – a missed opportunity for making informed game choices.

Intervention policy

Almost all operators state that intervention can occur for risky gambling behaviour, but very few explain when and how this happens. Information about which signs lead to contact or measures, such as temporary exclusion or blocking, is often vague or missing. For players, it is therefore difficult to assess to what extent they are actually being protected if things are about to go wrong.

Collaboration and transparency

We also saw large differences in the level of collaboration with Casino.nl. Some operators provided constructive feedback, engaged in discussions with us, and even actively improved their policies. Others did not respond or chose not to participate substantively. These differences show that involvement with the duty of care theme is not equally strong across all operators.

Conclusion: room for improvement

Although clear progress has been made since the previous research, there are still significant gaps in the implementation of the duty of care. Compliance is not uniform, and oversight or enforcement seems limited. No operator scores perfectly – and that while better information, clear risk indication, and transparent intervention are crucial for effectively protecting players. The sector still has plenty of work to do.

Which gambling sites perform well and poorly?

What everyone naturally wants to know is: who scores best!? And we give the answer below. However, we would first like to make a comment. We did our best to collect accurate information. But there is a lot of data from 25 operators, which is a lot of text. It’s not impossible that we missed something, and we want to emphasise that if we didn’t find it, it’s not a guarantee that it’s not on the website. However, it does say something about how findable the information is. And how meaningful is information if it’s only there for compliance purposes in some corner? Therefore, we mainly looked at the ‘spirit of the duty of care’ and how it is shaped.

We have sorted our findings in four ways:

• mandatory information
• optional information
• information about education before a player starts playing
• information about prevention, to prevent a player from getting into trouble.

From our legal framework, 37 criteria emerged. Holland Casino and Toto are the only operators where we found all the mandatory information. It’s good to see that the state-owned companies are leading by example in this regard. For all other operators, they still need to take a good look internally to see if they are informing clearly and adequately on all mandatory points, and if it is visible, because we couldn’t find it.

In addition to the legally required information, we formulated 38 criteria that we believe would contribute to the duty of care and fair communication. In terms of providing information, Hard Rock Casino stands head and shoulders above the rest. They are clearly the most proactive and comprehensive in providing information for the duty of care.

Looking at the information about education, the top 3 are: BetMGM, Bet365, and Tonybet. It’s worth noting that Bet365 scores low on the mandatory elements, but compensates for this with a lot of additional information.

Looking at the information about prevention, the top 3 are: Holland Casino, Betcity, and Tonybet.

In addition to this quantitative analysis, we would like to give extra kudos in the following categories:

Extra communication / use of videos: Hard Rock Casino and Betcity stand out for their use of videos in their content. Many people do not read or read poorly. Video is an excellent way to draw additional attention to the content.

Identifying the risks of different games: Something that not all operators made clear, the following operators stood out because they showed a visual risk matrix that highlights the differences in addiction risk of the various games: Kudos to BetMGM, LeoVegas, Betcity, Kansino, and Holland Casino.

Follow-up research

This year we conducted the research entirely ourselves. We are not a professional research company and must admit that it wasn’t easy and was a lot of work. This experience has led to many learning points, and we will definitely apply them next year for the next Duty of Care research. We would like to focus more on ‘how’ communication happens, not just ‘what’. This need comes from the fact that we found some information in the terms and conditions. While this does meet the legal requirement, how effective is it if no one reads it? Much more can be done to inform and guide the player to ensure they enjoy gambling in a fun and responsible way. Innovative solutions, such as our MyStride Positive Play project, in collaboration with The Digital Wellness Center, can also be integrated by operators into their duty of care policy.

Finally

Responsible gambling and how to deal with education, prevention, and intervention without driving players to the illegal market is a challenge many countries are grappling with. We are already doing a lot right in the Netherlands, but there is still much that can be improved. By working together – operators, affiliates, policymakers, industry organisations, and players – and setting clear, applicable guidelines, the Netherlands can become a leading country in responsible gambling policy. Casino.nl wants to contribute to the conversation and finding and testing solutions. We look forward to the response from our colleagues.

Download the English report Duty of Care Research 2025 here (Dutch version here)
Download the 2024 report here (Dutch version)

Responses to our research

At Casino.nl, we believe that transparency, collaboration, and critical reflection are essential for strong and responsible gambling policy. That is why we are sharing our findings publicly and inviting policymakers, operators, and other stakeholders to join the conversation.

Reacties op ons onderzoek zullen we hier plaatsen

Vbet has read and assessed the Zorgplicht 2025, and we welcome the fact that Casino.nl signalled Vbet for its improvement from 2024. However, we will also consider where we can improve from the report, as duty of care is of paramount importance to us at Vbet.

Edward Quigley, Regional Director Vbet – April 10th 2025

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