Dutch survey suggests limited awareness of igaming

The survey, commissioned by the Netherlands Online Gaming Association (NOGA) and conducted online by Ipsos, asked 1,004 participants a series of questions about online gambling. It release comes as the country’s Remote Gambling Act is set to come into force tomorrow (1 April), after a series of delays.

This kicks off a six month window in which the licensing process will run, with the first bets to be taken on 1 October.

The Ipsos poll found that just under half of respondents, 49%, said they had heard of online gambling but didn’t know much about it.

A further 5% said they had not heard of online gambling, while 31% said they were familiar with online gambling but did not participate. 

Just 5% of respondents said they gambled online regularly, though this rose 10% for those that had gambled online, but did not do so often.

This lack of familiarity with online gambling extended to the new legislation. Two thirds of respondents said they did not know about the Remote Gambling Act , while only 12% described themselves as “well aware of it”. The remaining 23% said they had heard something about it.

Even among the 108 respondents to identify as gamblers, knowledge of the new regulations was not high. Only 59% described themselves as aware of the upcoming changes.

The same percentage of online gamblers, 59%, said it was important to play with licensed operators, while 9% said it was not, and the remaining 32% had no opinion.

Of those who are aware of the legalisation of online gambling, 37% said they believed this was a positive development, compared to 14% that said they were unaware it was happening.

Among those who did not gamble, there was little indication that there are many that will begin gambling online once they can do so legally.

Just 2% expressed an interest in playing once the market opens for business on 1 October. However, this figure was higher among young people, at 6%.

The respondents also showed support for many of the limits on advertising that appear in the country’s new regulations.

A significant majority, 71%, said online gambling ads should only air after 9PM. In addition, 59% were of the view that using influencers and sportspeople in gambling ads would be problematic.