First Full Year of Online Gambling Shows Impact on Country-Specific Market
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (October 19, 2023) — The opening of the online gambling market has had an impact on the land-based market. This is evident from the 2023 Gambling Market Scan that the Gaming Authority (Ksa) is publishing for the year 2022. The annual market scan traditionally concerns the state of the country-specific gambling market. This time the comparison was also made with the online gambling market, which was open all year round for the first time in 2022. This comparison shows that there has been a clear shift in casino gaming from physical to online.The total gross gaming result (BSR, deposit minus prizes paid out) for legal games of chance amounted to €3.4 billion in 2022, compared to a BSR of €2 billion in 2021. Part of this growth is due to the increase in online gambling, but also due to an increase in land-based supply compared to the previous year. Physical casinos, arcades and catering establishments were closed for a number of months in 2021 due to the corona pandemic.
Market by sector
The market scan shows that the online gambling market (31% of the total BSR) is smaller than the country-based gambling market (69%). Casino games made up the largest part of the total market in 2022 (56%). The BSR of the lotteries has grown slightly. The sports betting sector has grown from 4% in 2021 to almost 10% in 2022 (8% of which is online).
Impact of opening online market
In this market scan, a comparison was made for the first time between online and land-based gambling offerings. Something has changed, especially in the field of casino games. Compared to 2019, the last year without closures due to the corona pandemic, the BSR of casino games (both land-based and online) has increased from €1.5 billion to €1.9 billion. This increase is mainly caused by the legalization of online casino games, because the BSR of land-based casino games (table games, gambling machines and catering machines) has fallen by 30% compared to 2019. There has therefore been a shift to online in this sector. It should be noted that the land-based market may not yet have returned to pre-corona levels and may recover further.
Dutch players
Compared to other Europeans, the Dutch spend on average 14% less on gambling. In most European countries, more money is spent on land-based gambling than on online gambling; this is also the case in the Netherlands. In 2022, adult Dutch people spent an average of €258 on games of chance at licensed providers. In 2021 this was €158, taking into account the closure of physical casinos, arcades and catering establishments during corona, because in 2019 this was €221. This amount is also higher because expenses of players who played illegally online before October 1, 2021 were not included, but are now included if they play with legal providers.
Gambling market scan 2023
In the market scan, the Ksa describes the state of affairs and current developments in various gambling sectors. The Ksa bases this on public sources such as annual reports from the various providers and therefore focuses on the previous year. The purpose of the market scan is to provide insight into the gaming market and to gather the necessary knowledge for proper supervision. The following sectors are included in the scan: lotteries, sports betting, casino games and gambling machines. This time, for the first time, we looked at both online and country-specific offerings.
SOURCE: de Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa).
