bet365 Wins Dutch License Renewal Weeks After Player-Protection Order

The Dutch gambling regulator renewed bet365's online license for five more years on Sept. 17, four weeks after rejecting the operator's challenge to an order over player protection.

The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) granted eight renewals in all, the first since the Netherlands legalized online gambling in 2021.

They run from October 2026 through September 2031, in a market where licensed sites took €602 million ($690 million) in the second half of 2025 and kept only 53% of the money Dutch players gambled online.

Regulator Weighs Five Years of Violations

The KSA said it examined violations definitively established over the past five years, and made operators explain what they fixed and how they would prevent a repeat. Some were given extra points to watch. All eight met the requirements for a license.

bet365 holds its Dutch license through Hillside (New Media Malta). The KSA ordered that company on Nov. 13, 2025 to strengthen its duty of care, the legal obligation to check whether players can afford what they lose.

Hillside used an income questionnaire to test affordability until March 2025, months after the regulator said questionnaires cannot do that job. It also miscalculated net deposit limits, letting players deposit more than their finances justified. Hillside objected, and the KSA dismissed the objection in a decision dated Aug. 4.

Betent, which runs Betcity, was renewed as well. The KSA fined it €2.65 million ($3 million) on Oct. 28, 2025 after finding duty-of-care breaches in all 10 player files it examined. Those players were 18 to 23 and lost tens of thousands of euros in short stretches.

Later Licenses Face the Same Test

Policy rules in force since Jan. 1, 2026 set the terms of the review. Renewal applicants face fresh checks on addiction prevention and advertising, and must show how they would wind down and pay players out when a license ends.

bet365 has kept expanding elsewhere, opening in Washington, D.C. in September.

Hillside can still take the duty-of-care order to a Dutch court. The KSA has not said when it will decide renewals for operators licensed after 2021.

Treat gambling as entertainment you pay for. 18+, and if it stops feeling like entertainment, help exists at BeGambleAware and GamCare.