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Kansspelautoriteit has told licensed online gambling operators in the Netherlands to stop offering “share your bet” style features across their platforms, warning that the tools function as advertising that operators cannot keep away from minors, young adults, and people with gambling problems.
In a notice published Wednesday, 4 February 2026, the regulator said it is calling on providers that use the feature to stop immediately. The KSA also said it will keep monitoring platform features that can promote gambling indirectly and “will take enforcement action where needed.”
Why the KSA says the feature crosses the line
“Share your bet” tools are common in sports betting. A customer places a wager, then shares a link through social media or messaging. The recipient can open the link, view the bet, and in many cases copy it quickly.
That last part is the issue for the KSA.
The regulator says this is advertising, just routed through the player. In the KSA’s words: “Het is een manier voor aanbieders om kansspelen onder de aandacht te brengen, maar dan indirect via de spelers zelf.”
The KSA pointed to the Dutch rules on recruitment, advertising, and addiction prevention for gambling, which require providers to ensure that advertising does not reach vulnerable groups. The regulator spelled out those groups as minors, young adults, and people with gambling problems, saying: “Volgens het Besluit werving, reclame en verslavingspreventie kansspelen moeten aanbieders ervoor zorgen dat reclame niet terechtkomt bij kwetsbare groepen, zoals minderjarigen, jongvolwassenen en mensen met gokproblemen.”
KSA’s practical point is simple. Operators cannot control where those links end up.
Players decide who they send them to. A link can be forwarded again and again. Once that happens, the operator has no real way to stop the promotion from reaching protected audiences. The KSA said that is why offering the functionality is not allowed.
Normalisation and peer pressure concerns
The KSA did not limit its warning to legal compliance. It also raised a broader consumer protection concern about how social sharing changes behaviour online.
The regulator said easy sharing can normalise gambling and lower the barrier to participation, especially among younger audiences. The KSA put it like this: “Daarnaast zorgt het gemakkelijk kunnen delen van weddenschappen ervoor dat gokken meer genormaliseerd wordt. Dit verlaagt de drempel voor deelname, vooral onder jongere doelgroepen.”
In plain terms, the regulator is treating “share your bet” as a peer to peer marketing channel. The player becomes the promoter, even if they do not think of themselves that way.
What operators are expected to do now
The KSA’s message is directed at online gambling providers using the feature, and it calls for an immediate stop. The regulator also said it will actively watch for comparable product mechanics that can indirectly promote gambling.
This matters for sportsbooks first, but it is not limited to sports. Any event based sharing mechanic that pushes gambling content into private chats or public feeds can raise the same problem: providers cannot reliably prevent exposure to minors, young adults, or excluded and at risk players.
Part of a longer clampdown on Dutch gambling marketing
The move follows a steady tightening of Dutch gambling promotion rules since 2023.
In July 2023, the Netherlands moved to restrict broad, untargeted advertising for online gambling, with a policy focus on reducing exposure among young people and other vulnerable groups. Later phases extended restrictions into sponsorship. By July 2025, the final step of the sponsorship ban took effect, ending sports sponsorship by online gambling providers.
The KSA is now applying that same logic to product design. If a feature acts like marketing and operators cannot control who sees it, the regulator is making clear it expects that feature to disappear.
Bigger politics hovering over the market
The enforcement warning also lands at a moment when Dutch gambling policy is under political scrutiny, including renewed calls for even stricter limits on gambling visibility.
Dutch coalition plans reported in late January point to a tougher approach, including proposals that could push the market toward far lower advertising exposure and tighter limits on what licensed operators can do.
For now, the KSA’s immediate message is direct: remove the “share your bet” tools, and expect scrutiny of any feature that turns customers into a distribution channel for gambling promotions.
Source: Kansspelautoriteit
