Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Dutch gambling regulator, has begun working on new strategies to protect minors and young adults from gambling and gambling harm by compiling the results from three comprehensive national studies.
The three sets of studies focus on the age groups from 16 up to 24, analysing the whole gambling journey – from the rate of gambling exposure that minors experience to the gambling behaviour they exhibit once of legal age to do so.
While not a complete representation of the entire target population in the Netherlands, the studies offer a quite comprehensive picture into the introduction, the appeal and the prevalence of gambling within that age bracket.
The pathway into gambling
The most recent study comes from Youngworks, commissioned by the KSA, which surveyed 50 individuals aged 16-21 and conducted in-depth interviews with 24 of them aged 18 and above to understand what’s the pathway into gambling for someone who starts young.
Again, not representative of the entire population, respondents said that the first exposure usually happens around the ages between 8 and 12. The KSA said that this usually happens with legal gambling offers through a relative or a close friend who is of legal age.
Independent gambling can then emerge sometime between the ages of 12 and 14, which is now an activity that is enjoyed socially in a group. This could be either through gifted scratch cards, indirect sports betting, or games enjoyed at home like poker.
Then, around the ages of 14 and 16, Youngworks reported that gambling tends to shift towards the digital domain. Regardless, people at that age still consider gambling by themselves or using an illegal gambling platform as a sign of problem gambling, the study added.
Betting not as popular as previously thought
For the second analysis, the KSA turned to its own database to analyse a total of 15,761 accounts of people aged between 18 and 24 that were open in May 2025 and were active in the three months that followed.
Results were interesting, as they countered a previous KSA hypothesis that sports betting might be acting as a stepping stone into casino gambling. Instead, 72% of the accounts only engaged with online casino at first, against 11% with sports betting.
Another takeaway that the KSA reported is that a large number of accounts were opened the day or shortly after a user had turned 18. In fact, of all accounts analysed in the 18-24 bracket, 41% were of an 18-year-old.
The final standout statistic from this report was that in the three months since opening an account, the 18-year-olds gambled more times than the 19-24 group on average, although with lower median stakes.
Still work to be done
Lastly, researchers in the third report analysed responses from a two-part study of nearly 30,000 Dutch students in the MBO educational system (vocational college for 16-24s) using the TestJeLeefstijl lifestyle questionnaire.
Among other things, students were asked about their gambling over the past 12 months from the survey’s date. Interestingly, this included the same Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) methodology that the UK is also using, only with three questions instead of nine.
A total of 32% said they did gamble at least once in that timeframe, including lottery-only play. Of those, 28% were minors aged between 15 and 17, and 39% were aged 18 or older.
Summarising the findings, the KSA concluded: “In the coming months, the KSA will continue to work to see what additional measures are needed to better protect young people. This is already being worked on together with the government.”