KSA Chairman Michel Groothuizen shared the plan in an October 14, 2026, commentary, saying that it grew out of meetings in Dublin earlier in 2026, where the KSA and other European regulators sat down with Google and Meta and agreed to set up a joint task force. No launch date for the list has been given yet.
Groothuizen said tech platforms profit from illegal gambling ads and have little reason to restrict them. He named Dutch law and the EU’s Digital Services Act as possible grounds for a case, though DSA enforcement against the biggest platforms sits with the European Commission, and the litigation could take up to five years.
Groothuizen commented:
“Voluntarily giving this up or imposing substantial restrictions on themselves goes squarely against their business model. Yet that is what we demand of them, preferably amicably, if necessary by force.”
The regulator has moved its focus toward online visibility and payments after struggling to collect fines from unlicensed operators, while Groothuizen stressed that social media ads for illegal gambling had reached minors and self-excluded players.
Five years after the Dutch online market opened, around 90% of players use only licensed sites, but around half of online gambling spending still goes to illegal operators.
