Justice minister Sander Dekker is looking to stop big international gambling websites from offering Dutch nationals access to their sites ahead of the introduction of domestic online gambling licences next month.

Companies such as Unibet, Betfair and Pokerstars have stopped directly targeting Dutch punters but do not deny them access. Technically this is breaking current gambling legislation but the regulators turn a blind eye.

Dekker now wants to stop ‘providers without permits who are not actively focused on the Dutch market but nevertheless serve Dutch players’ and has told them to ‘end all their offers for Dutch players in the short term’.

The aim, he said, is to ensure that Dutch punters move away from the unlicenced sector and benefit from the protection offered by the new Dutch legislation.

The Dutch gambling authority is due to say which companies have won a licence to run online gambling companies in the Netherlands next week. State owned Holland Casino, lottery group Nederlandse Loterij and JVH, which runs amusement arcades, are among the domestic companies which have applied.

Companies which have targeted Dutch gamblers in the past, such as Unibet and Betfair, have been excluded from the process and will not be able to apply until April next year at the earliest.