Gambling addiction treatment up 13% amid boom in online betting

The number of people treated for gambling addiction in the Netherlands rose again last year, climbing 13% to 3,108 from 2,750 in 2024, with the increase driven almost entirely by online gambling.

The figures come from LADIS, the national monitor of specialist addiction treatment, published by the healthcare data foundation IVZ. They show gambling was the main addiction category with a significant rise in people seeking treatment.

About half of those treated for a gambling problem were new to addiction services, signaling that new people are becoming addicted rather than recovering addicts relapsing. The 13% rise extends a trend that has run every year since 2023, after gambling-treatment numbers fell between 2019 and 2022.

The report’s authors stressed the increase was not simply the result of more clinics joining the LADIS monitor: it was also visible among the institutions that have reported every year since 2016.

Online gambling legislation

Online gambling was legalised in October 2021, and addiction services warned at the time that opening the market would drive up problem gambling.

More than 450,000 people opened betting accounts in the months that followed, and the government has since rolled back much of its initial liberal approach, banning untargeted advertising, phasing out gambling sponsorship in sport and capping daily deposits.

More than 100,000 people have registered with Cruks, the national self-exclusion scheme set up alongside legalisation, which bars them from all licensed casinos, arcades and gambling websites.

Alcohol still the biggest problem

Overall, specialist services treated nearly 68,000 people for addiction in 2025, roughly the same as a year earlier.

Alcohol remained by far the most common primary addiction at 43%, rising to 60% among the over-55s, while cannabis was the most common problem among people under 25.

The figures count only those in specialist treatment, not the wider scale of addiction in the population, and not every provider reports to LADIS – so the true number in treatment is likely to be higher.

Anyone affected by gambling problems can contact OpenOverGokken (formerly Loket Kansspel), the national gambling helpline, free on 0800 2400 022, day or night.