Dutch Horse-Race Betting Licence: One Offline Permit, No Online Rights
The next Dutch horse-race betting licence will cover one operator’s physical business, not an online betting platform. The Kansspelautoriteit’s October 28 notice sets a January 2027 application window for the five-year totalisator permit. Its narrow scope matters as much as the fact that only one licence is available.
What the winner would be allowed to offer
Under the Ksa’s announced procedure, the permit covers horse-race wagers using the pari-mutuel, or pool-betting, system. It applies to land-based locations such as racecourses and physical betting offices. Online gambling is expressly excluded and belongs to the separate remote-gambling licensing system.
The existing permit, held by ZEbetting & Gaming Nederland B.V., expires on June 30, 2027. The proposed successor runs from July 1, 2027 through June 30, 2032. Those dates describe the licence term, rather than the period in which a business can submit its application.
A potential entrant therefore needs to establish which activity it wants to operate before interpreting this announcement as a market-opening opportunity. Winning this permit would not, by itself, authorize a website or a wider range of fixed-odds sports bets.
The application fee does not buy the licence
Applications can be submitted from January 4 through January 31, 2027. The regulator expects to publish the application form, model licence and procedural information in December. That is the stated timetable; the October notice is not a substitute for those documents.
Applicants must pay €40,900 in advance for application processing. The fee is non-refundable. It should not be described as the price of a successful licence or as a refundable deposit that an unsuccessful applicant can recover.
The first assessment covers a range of requirements, including continuity, reliability, internal supervision, integrity and outsourcing policies, incident handling, prevention of gambling harm and underage participation, match-fixing policy and demonstrable experience offering sports betting offline.
There is a second stage only if more than one applicant remains after that assessment. In that event, a notary selects the winner through an unweighted draw. The notice does not describe a highest-bid auction. Passing the initial requirements and winning the final selection are separate events.
A monthly contribution with a specific base
The licence holder must contribute 10% of monthly gross gambling revenue from bets it accepted on horse races and harness races organized in the Netherlands to the horse-racing sector. The scope of that revenue base should stay attached to the percentage.
The percentage is not a levy on every euro staked. Gross gambling revenue deducts prizes from stakes; it is also different from profit after operating costs. An operator comparing the obligation with its business plan needs the relevant revenue measure, not simply its total betting turnover.
As with Finland’s separate licensing timetable, application and operating dates have different jobs. Here, the immediate preparation is for January submissions, while the permission to operate under the new Dutch permit begins in July. Online rights remain a separate question throughout.