KSA to Tender Dutch Tote Monopoly in January, With Lots Drawn if Several Qualify

The Netherlands Gambling Authority will take applications in January for the only licence to run pool betting on horse racing from July 2027. The winner gets a land-based monopoly and hands 10% of its gross gaming revenue on Dutch races to the sport.

• The Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) will run an open award procedure in January 2027 for the single totalisator licence for 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2032
• The licence covers pari-mutuel betting on horse races at racecourses and betting shops only; online betting needs a remote gambling licence
• If more than one applicant meets the requirements, a notary will pick the winner by unweighted draw; applications run from 4 to 31 January 2027 and cost €40,900
• The current licence, held by ZEbetting & Gaming Nederland B.V., expires on 30 June 2027; the holder must pay 10% of gross gaming revenue on Dutch races to the racing sector each month
• The tender contrasts with the KSA's decision to renew Lotto BV's monopolies privately, while the Council of State weighs whether that monopoly system is lawful

The Netherlands Puts Its Horse Racing Tote Licence Out to Tender Again

The KSA said on 28 October that it will start an open and transparent award procedure next year for the totalisator licence for offline betting on horse races. Because it is a statutory monopoly, only one licence is available. The current licence, held by ZEbetting & Gaming Nederland B.V., expires on 30 June 2027, and the new one will run from 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2032.

The licence permits only pari-mutuel (pool) bets on horse races, and only land-based supply such as betting at racecourses and in physical betting shops, according to the KSA. Online betting falls under the remote gambling regime. Each month the holder must pay 10% of its gross gaming revenue to the horse racing sector, on bets struck that month on trotting and horse races organised in the Netherlands.

The legal basis is Title IV of the 1964 Betting and Gaming Act (Wet op de kansspelen). Article 24 lets the KSA's board grant the licence to one legal person for a period it sets, and Article 25 requires conditions including a maximum stake per person and the share withheld from the pool and its destination.

Requirements First, Then a Draw

In the first of two phases, the KSA will test every application against requirements including legal form and place of establishment, continuity, internal supervision, reliability, integrity policy, outsourcing policy, incident handling, prevention of excessive participation, gambling addiction and gambling harm, prevention of participation by minors, match-fixing policy, and demonstrable experience of offering sports bets offline.

The second phase takes place only if more than one applicant remains, in which case a notary will designate the winner by unweighted draw. The application fee of €40,900 must be paid in advance and is not refunded. Applications can be submitted from 4 to 31 January 2027, and the KSA expects to publish the application form and the model licence on its website in December. Until then, the licence conditions are not public.

Two Tenders and a Court Defeat Before This One

The licence was granted privately to the incumbent from 1998, according to a 24 June 2020 ruling of the Council of State's Administrative Jurisdiction Division. The KSA's first transparent procedure, for 2017 to 2022, ended with the licence going on 29 June 2017 to Sportech Racing B.V., now ZEbetting. Trannel International Limited, a Malta-based company that did not take part, objected that an eligibility condition requiring demonstrable experience of running a totalisator with physical sales in the Netherlands, the EU or the EEA was in practice met only by ZEbetting. The KSA and the Hague district court said Trannel had no standing; the Council of State disagreed and ordered the KSA to consider the objection on its merits.

For 2022 to 2027, the KSA's October 2021 notice in the Staatscourant set out the same two-phase design, with the experience test framed as offline sports betting experience and a fee of €32,000, since indexed to €40,900. iGaming Business reported that the KSA decided on 22 March 2022 to keep ZEbetting, describing it as part of the French ZEbet and ZEturf business. FDJ said it completed its acquisition of the ZEturf group in September 2023.

The Draw Is Only as Open as the Gate in Front of It

The draw removes discretion from the final choice, but the first phase decides who reaches it, and the 2017 tender was attacked over its experience criterion. The test has moved from totalisator experience, as Trannel described the 2017 condition, to offline sports betting experience, which should admit more land-based bookmakers but still shuts out online-only operators. Naming match-fixing, harm prevention and minors also brings the monopoly closer to the duty-of-care standards the KSA applies to online licensees. Lotto BV's monopolies were renewed without a tender because it is a state participation; the Council of State has held that a justified single-licence system may not in principle be awarded privately, with exceptions including a public operator under direct state supervision. A private incumbent such as ZEbetting has no such shelter.

The 10% Levy Is Now the Same Online and Offline

Until 1 October 2021 the holder paid 2.5% of total stakes on all races to causes promoting Dutch trotting and racing, under its 2017 licence. A ministerial policy rule that July, citing a level playing field with online betting, made it 10% of gross gaming revenue on Dutch races only, paid to a recipient the minister designates. Under the remote gambling regulation that money may go only to Dutch prize money, horse breeding and combating race manipulation. The tote now funds racing on the same terms as online operators, so the monopoly no longer carries a distinctive levy.

A Small Retail Niche Will Test Demand

In 2021 the KSA described Dutch horse race betting as a niche market of relatively limited size, citing gross gaming revenue for totalisator bets of €22.5 million in 2018, which was not growing, against €202.5 million and 25% growth for bets on other sports. That figure predates the 2021 removal of online sales from the licence, which left the monopoly with racecourses and betting shops alone.

The KSA has built a procedure designed to survive the challenge that hit its 2017 tender. Whether it produces competition depends on the model licence due in December, and on whether anyone besides the incumbent applies.