Dutch state-owned casino group Holland Casino posted a loss of €3.5 million in the first six months of this year and has warned that further losses are inevitable if the new government presses ahead with a massive increase in taxes on gambling.

The group, which runs 14 physical casinos nationwide, posted net profit of €17 million in the same period last year. But higher personnel and investments in improving the range of gambling options have eaten this away, the casino organisation said.

Holland Casino was set up over 45 years ago to offer a legal alternative to underground gambling operations and is the only company licenced to operate a physical casino. It also offers online gambling.

The tax on gambling rose one percentage point this year and is due to go up again from 30.5% to 37.8% in 2025.

The new increase will make a profit impossible, director Petra de Ruiter told the Financieele Dagblad. “We are going to post a loss. Unlike supermarkets, we can’t pass on all the costs to customers.”

“The alternative is that we start to take unwelcome measures, such as launching an aggressive campaign to recruit new customers, stimulate people to spend more or lower the prize money,” she said.

The finance ministry warned earlier that higher taxes could threaten the survival of the Holland Casino group and state-run lottery Nederlandse Loterij.  Gambling sector lobby group VAN has also said the tax increase could open the doors to more illegal gambling and riskier behaviour from punters.

Addiction

In January, the national addiction watchdog warned tens of thousands of people have been hit by financial problems as a result of the way online gambling was legalised three years ago.

Arnt Schellekens called on the government to take much stronger measures to tackle addiction and debt, which have mushroomed since the law was changed in 2021.

The government believed a regulated legal market would make it easier to help people who were gambling illegally on foreign websites, but the measures led to an explosion in people becoming addicted.