The best betting sites in the Netherlands (2026)

How sports betting works in the Netherlands

Online sports betting has been licensed in the Netherlands since the Wet kansspelen op afstand amended the Wet op de kansspelen; it took effect on April 1, 2021, and the legal online market opened on October 1, 2021. The Kansspelautoriteit (Ksa) issues the licences and lists every licensed company, with its brands and websites, in its Kansspelwijzer: 25 companies held an online sports betting licence on October 23, 2026. You must be 18 or over, and the same rules apply at every licensed site:

• bets only on sport: on events during, or the result of, matches in sports recognised by NOC*NSF or comparable international bodies, and on horse racing;
• Cruks checks: every licensed site checks the national exclusion register when you sign up and every time you log in;
• limits from the start: you set deposit, balance and time limits before you play, and raising them takes a week;
• affordability checks: before your net deposits at one operator pass €300 in a calendar month if you’re 18 to 23, or €700 if you’re 24 or older, the operator must check you can afford it, or block further deposits for the rest of the month;
• no credit, one linked bank account, and your deposits paid back on request without having to bet them first.

Our guide covers the rules for sports betting in the Netherlands in detail.

How the top five compare

How we scored them

We don’t collect odds automatically, because several bookmakers’ terms forbid it: BetMGM’s ban “any automatic or manual device” to monitor its website, and ZEbet’s ban web scraping. So “odds & limits” scores what each bookmaker publishes, and you can check any market yourself with our margin calculator. We don’t list or score bonuses. Two of our five, Circus and bet365, blocked our automated checks of their websites; their reviews say what we couldn’t verify, and they score lower for it. The full method is in how we rank betting sites in the Netherlands.

What betting really costs

A bookmaker builds a margin into every price. At 1.90 on both sides of a two-way market, each side implies a 52.6% chance and the two together 105.26%, so the bookmaker keeps 5% of everything staked on that market over time. Combination bets cost more, because the margin compounds with every selection. None of the bookmakers in our ranking publishes its margins, so compare prices on the same market with our margin calculator.

In the second half of 2025, Dutch licensed online gambling sites kept €602 million of what players staked after paying out winnings, about €100 million a month, and sports betting made up 20% of that, according to the Ksa’s monitoring report. Young adults bet relatively more on sport: 23% of what they lost went on sports bets, against 20% for older players.

Bets you can’t place in the Netherlands

The rules apply at every licensed sportsbook, and the Ksa enforces them: it ordered Unibet’s operator to stop offering banned bets in 2025, after finding bets on 214 matches for players under 21. Licensed sportsbooks may not take bets on:

• matches for players under 21 or in any younger age group, and amateur and youth competitions;
• negative or easily manipulated events, such as yellow cards, the first corner, own goals, throw-ins, fouls and offside;
• winning or losing a single tennis set;
• jury awards, such as the Ballon d’Or;
• anything outside sport, such as transfers or elections.

They may also not offer a “share your bet” feature or advertise live bets during a match, and since July 1, 2025 online gambling companies may not sponsor sport.

Why some big names aren’t here

• Unibet: the Ksa fined its operator €4 million for failing its duty of care between July 2022 and July 2024 (on appeal) and €400,000 for letting players registered in Cruks play, and ordered it to stop offering banned bets.
• BetCity: its operator was fined €2.65 million for not protecting young adults (on appeal) and €3 million under the anti-money-laundering act.
• 711: fined €886,000 for failing its duty of care in 2026, and called out in October 2026 for making some customers bet their deposits before withdrawing them.
• Jacks.nl: its licence runs until November 20, 2026, and no renewal had been published when we checked; its operator has also been fined €400,000 twice.

Staying safe

• Check the Ksa’s list. Only the websites in the Ksa’s Kansspelwijzer are licensed. Our licence check searches it, and the Ksa’s decisions against illegal sites, for you.
• Avoid illegal sites. They don’t check Cruks, aren’t bound by Dutch limits and, if they don’t pay, there’s no Dutch regulator to turn to. The Ksa estimates that only about 53% of the money Dutch players gamble goes to licensed sites.
• Use Cruks if you need a break. It blocks you from every licensed Dutch gambling site and venue for at least six months.

Taxes

You pay no tax on winnings from a licensed site: the operator pays the gambling tax, 37.8% of its gross gaming result in 2026. At a site without a Dutch licence, you must declare your net winnings for every month in which you won more than you staked, and pay 37.8% yourself. See gambling taxes in the Netherlands.

Betting responsibly

Most bettors lose over time, because the margin works against every bet. Set low limits when you sign up, never chase losses, and stop if it isn’t fun. The Ksa’s OpenOverGokken helpline on 0800 24 000 22 is free, anonymous and open 24/7, with chat and WhatsApp from 8:00 to midnight; our guide to gambling help in the Netherlands explains Cruks and where else to turn.