Top Dutch casinos 2020

How to Find the Best Online Casinos to Play in the Netherlands?

There are several things that make a good online casino what it is. Typically, it’s not easy to rate a casino good or bad in the first few days, because there’s a lot that can be good or bad. That’s why we look for some standard factors to arrive at our decision. More than that, we also experience the casino’s offerings first-hand and understand its services. Here are some of the things that we consider when rating an online casino and so should you:

• License: Of course, if the casino has a gambling license from Kansspelautoriteir, that’s a brilliant thing. However, such casinos are limited in number. So, players may have to settle for online casinos with a gambling license from another reputed regulator like the Malta Gaming Authority, the UKGC, and so on.
• Selection of Games: The variety and number of games offered by an online casino is very important for the players’ experience. You don’t want to end up playing the same set of 5 games you always play. Also, it’s not just about quantity; quality rules the online gambling scene. You want games that are highly rated, offer excellent odds, and are innovative. Find online casinos that offer games from highly reputed developers like NetEnt, Microgaming, Play’n GO, and so on.
• Safety and Security: You don’t want to land in a situation where you win big, and some hacker steals all your money, or worse, compromise your personal details online. The casino website must have robust safety features, including SSL encryption, among other things. Check out what other safety features the casino’s website is using to make sure that you are getting a safe and secure entertainment environment.
• Customer Support: Suppose you withdrew your money from the casino a week ago and it has still not arrived in your bank account. You contact the casino and they don’t even bother responding to you. What do you do then? To avoid such situations, always make sure that the casino you are playing at has a good reputation for its customer support service. The more responsive, understanding, and reassuring the support executives are, the more hassle-free will be your experience on the casino.
• Bonuses and Promotions: The local Dutch online casinos are notorious for giving paltry bonuses and rewards to their players. After all, they are required to pay heavy taxes to the government. However, foreign online casinos operate out of tax-friendly jurisdictions, because of which they often throw huge sums of money at their players to earn their loyalty. Welcome bonuses, cashbacks, loyalty bonuses, high-roller bonuses, and other types of bonuses come raining down on hundreds of foreign online casinos.

That said, everything is not great at foreign casinos. Remember, playing on Dutch online casinos is advantageous because the government protects player rights when the casino indulges in any malpractices. The same may or may not be true in the case of a foreign online casino.

What Payments Can the Dutch Players Use When Making Deposits or Withdrawals?

If you are a Dutch player who wants to make a deposit or withdrawal on a Dutch-licensed online casino, then you can use any of the payment options offered by the casino. If you are doing the same on a foreign online casino, this can get tricky for a number of reasons.

The Dutch government has prohibited banks from processing any payments that involve foreign online casinos. Therefore, the players as well as the foreign casinos have developed inventive solutions to circumvent this roadblock. The casinos offer several payment options that make such transactions possible. The prime choice for the players is e-wallets like Neteller, Skrill, PayPal, PaysafeCard, and so on. Some players even use cryptocurrencies like bitcoins.

The e-wallets process payments from the casino as well as the banks without causing hassles to the players. The cryptocurrency transactions anyway happen unhindered by the local laws.

Is Online Gambling Legal in the Netherlands?

The modern history of gambling in the Netherlands goes back to 1726, when the country’s first lottery was launched. In more recent times, the first physical casino to open in the country was 1976. Over time, more than a dozen offline casinos set up shops across the country. The country enjoyed a fairly favorable gambling climate. Even when the internet penetration took off and the Dutch started taking to the online casinos and enjoy gambling, the government did not reign them in.

However, all of this changed in 2005, when the country’s government passed stringent regulations against online gambling. To make matters worse, the Dutch Supreme Court outlawed online gambling activities entirely and even banned foreign online casinos from catering to the Dutch players.

Then, in a complete U-turn to its own position, the Dutch government legalized online gambling in 2013. With that, foreign online casinos were once again welcome in the country and could cater to the local players in the Netherlands, provided that they have a gambling license from Kansspelautoriteir.

A peculiar thing about the country is its stance on sports betting. The government has allowed 2 players in the country to offer sports betting services to players online. They are neither issuing more sports betting licenses, nor shutting down these two businesses. At present, the Dutch punters have only these two options for sports betting.

So, yes, online gambling is legal in the Netherlands.

Are Foreign Online Casinos Allowed in the Netherlands?

Yes, and no.

The online gambling industry in the Netherlands is heavily regulated and the government is taking stern measures to enforce the jurisdiction’s laws. That includes foreign online casinos too.

The government allows international online casinos to offer their services to the Dutch players on the condition that the casino obtains a gambling license from Kansspelautoriteir. Without the license, any casino that targets the Dutch players is doing so illegally and that can attract fines and even legal action from the Dutch government.

This is still an improvement from the earlier situation, wherein there was a blanket ban on all foreign online casinos. It was changed only in 2019 when Kansspelautoriteir started issuing online gambling licenses to international online casinos.

Are Dutch Players Prosecuted for Playing on Unlicensed Online Casinos?

The stringent regulation by the Dutch government means nothing for the country’s populace. They continue to register, deposit, and gamble on international casinos, whether they have a Dutch gambling license or not. Some estimates indicate that every year, the Dutch players spend a massive €250 million to €800 million on unlicensed online casinos alone. And, there’s a growing list of casinos to cater to them too. Roughly 500-odd online casinos accept the Dutch players.

In the past, the Dutch government has levied fines as big as €469,459 on casinos. In fact, it famously fined a grand total of €3.5 million on 10 foreign players for accepting the Dutch players. However, the government has made no moves on the players. No single Dutch player has been fined or prosecuted for playing on foreign online casinos.

Is the Dutch Online Casino Industry Set to Become More Liberal?

There are several signs that the Dutch online gambling scene will become more liberal in the near future. For starters, the Remote Gambling Bill 2019 has made online gambling legal. The Kansspelautoriteir, for its part, has started issuing online gambling licenses only in 2020. So, there will be a lot many online casinos launching in the country or even existing foreign players applying for the Dutch license.

Secondly, the Dutch government has been severely criticized by the EU government for blocking access to its online gambling market for other EU member states. Under the constant pressure, the Dutch government has started buckling and 2019 is a sign of that. So, in keeping with the EU laws, it is likely that the Dutch government will progressively make its online gambling market more accessible to casinos from other EU member states.

Do Dutch Players Get to Enjoy Live Dealer Games?

At present, there is only one place where the Dutch players can enjoy live casino gaming legally – Nederlandse Loterij. This was made possible by an agreement between Nederlandse Loterij and Evolution Gaming. There are no other Dutch-licensed platforms offering live dealer casinos in the country.

That said, there are several foreign online casinos that offer a greater variety of a number of live dealer games and also cater to the Dutch players.