UK Stake Caps and the 40% RGD: How the Dutch System Compares

The UK government’s autumn 2024 reforms — a GBP 5-per-spin online slot cap (GBP 2 for under-25s) and a unified Remote Gaming Duty rising toward 40 per cent — have moved the British market closer to the Dutch position than at any point since the Koa Act took effect in October 2021. For a Dutch reader, the question is not whether the UK is moving in the right direction. It is whether the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) is likely to follow with per-spin caps next, given that the Netherlands already operates with deposit-cap discipline and a 29.5 per cent gaming tax that sits just below where the UK is heading. This is a pillar informational article. It does not promote any operator and does not recommend any product. Online gambling in the Netherlands is restricted to adults, with elevated 24+ marketing visibility under the Koa Act.

What the UK changes are

According to coverage by Today News UK (26 May 2026), the UK reforms now in force or scheduled include:

GBP 5 per-spin cap on online slots for adults 25+
GBP 2 per-spin cap on online slots for adults aged 18-24
Statutory levy for research, education and treatment (replacing the voluntary contribution)
Affordability checks at deposit thresholds set by the UK Gambling Commission
Remote Gaming Duty consolidation to a single rate, currently being raised in the 2025 Autumn Budget — the planned end-state is 40 per cent (up from the previous 21 per cent for online casino games)

The 40 per cent Remote Gaming Duty figure is what changes the commercial picture most. UK-facing operators face higher operating costs and have started to recalibrate bonus generosity, VIP programmes and product mix accordingly. Industry coverage in the trade press has documented this shift through Q1 and Q2 of 2026.

What the Netherlands already does

The Dutch system is structured around deposit limits, not per-spin caps. The mechanism is documented in the Wet Kansspelen op Afstand and KSA policy guidance:

Deposit-cap requirement at registration — every player must set a personal deposit ceiling. There is no statutory minimum or maximum, but the operator must obtain a documented choice from the player at sign-up.
24-hour cool-off on deposit-cap raises — a player cannot raise the limit on impulse. The operator must hold the request for 24 hours before applying it.
Loss-limit nudges — when a player approaches the personal cap, the operator must surface a protective intervention.
Reality checks — session-time pop-ups during play, set within KSA bands.

The Netherlands does not impose a per-spin stake cap. The KSA’s published rationale is that a deposit cap, set by the player and re-enforceable, controls aggregate loss potential more flexibly than a per-spin cap, which can be partly defeated by faster round velocity or higher hit-rate selection.

Tax: where the Netherlands and the UK end up next to each other

The Dutch gaming tax (Kansspelbelasting) sits at 29.5 per cent of gross gaming revenue on online play, after the 2024 increase from 30.5 per cent (effective 1 January 2024) — a small reduction adopted by the Dutch parliament to keep the market competitive against grey-market alternatives.

The UK is moving in the opposite direction: from a previous 21 per cent Remote Gaming Duty to a planned 40 per cent. The two systems will cross in the second half of 2026, with the UK rate landing approximately 10 percentage points above the Dutch rate.

Jurisdiction	Tax on online casino GGR	Status
Netherlands (Kansspelbelasting)	29.5%	Effective since 1 January 2024
United Kingdom (Remote Gaming Duty)	40% (planned)	Phasing in through 2026-27
Germany (slot tax)	5.3% of stake (turnover, not GGR)	Effective since 1 July 2021
Spain (Impuesto sobre Actividades de Juego)	20%	Stable
Italy (PREU)	25%	Stable

The German system stands apart by taxing turnover rather than GGR, which is mathematically far more punitive than even the UK’s headline 40 per cent on GGR.

Could the Netherlands adopt per-spin caps?

The KSA conducted a public consultation in late 2024 on whether to introduce a per-spin or per-round stake cap as a complement to deposit limits. The consultation summary, published in early 2025, recorded views from operators, problem-gambling researchers, and consumer associations. The KSA’s working conclusion, summarised in the consultation response document on its website:

“The board’s current view is that deposit-limit discipline and loss-velocity intervention, properly enforced, provide superior outcomes to a statutory per-spin cap, while reserving the option to revisit if observed harm metrics shift.” — KSA consultation response (January 2025)

The Dutch position is therefore: not now, possibly later. The KSA monitors per-player loss-velocity data via mandatory operator reporting and has signalled that a deterioration in those metrics, particularly for 24-30 age cohorts, would re-open the consultation.

If you are tracking regulatory direction, the data point to watch is the KSA’s annual review of the Wet Kansspelen op Afstand, due in late 2026. The four-year mandatory review of the Koa Act will pull together harm metrics, market data and consultation responses. A per-spin cap proposal, if it emerges, will surface there first.

Where Dutch and UK players experience the difference

For a player who has registered at both a UK-licensed and a KSA-licensed casino — using accounts associated with the corresponding residency — the practical experience now differs in three places:

Per-spin limit: hard GBP 5 (GBP 2 for 18-24) on UK sites; no per-spin limit, but a player-set deposit cap on KSA sites
Affordability checks: UK sites trigger documentation requests at deposit thresholds set by the UKGC; KSA sites apply real-time loss-velocity monitoring instead, generally without documentation requests below higher thresholds
Bonus pricing: UK bonuses are getting smaller and more compliant under the new RGD; Dutch bonuses are bound by the 24+ marketing-visibility rule and the operator’s KSA-approved promotional policy

These are not better-or-worse comparisons. They are different protective-intervention models that the two regulators have chosen, with overlapping objectives — keeping harm out of the regulated market while keeping the regulated market preferable to the grey market.

What sits underneath both systems

Both regimes share four foundations:

Statutory regulator (UKGC in the UK, KSA in the Netherlands)
Licensed-operator framework (no white-list operator can solicit deposits without a licence)
Self-exclusion register (GAMSTOP in the UK, Cruks in the Netherlands)
Independent help line (GamCare 0808 8020 133 in the UK, Loket Kansspel 0900-2177 in the Netherlands)

The architecture is identical. The protective-intervention models differ. The tax positions are converging, with the UK climbing toward the Dutch rate.

What we are not saying

This article does not recommend playing on either UK or Dutch licensed sites. It does not claim one regulatory model is superior. Online gambling is a negative-expected-value activity with a documented harm profile in both jurisdictions. The KSA and UKGC publish their respective harm-metric reports annually; the headline figure most directly comparable is the rate of disordered gambling, currently 0.4 per cent of UK adults and approximately 0.3 per cent of Dutch adults, per the respective regulator-commissioned prevalence studies.

When to step back

If gambling activity, deposit pattern, or session length starts to feel out of pattern:

Cruks — register at cruks.nl; every KSA-licensed operator stops accepting your registration for the selected period
Loket Kansspel — independent help line, 0900-2177 (EUR 0.10/min)

The 18-24 cohort is the group both regulators are watching most closely. If you are in that band, the Dutch system’s 24+ marketing-visibility line and the UK’s GBP 2 stake cap are direct expressions of that focus.

Sources

Responsible gambling

Online gambling in the Netherlands is restricted to adults; marketing communication targets 24+ only. If you or someone close to you is showing warning signs, sign up to Cruks or call Loket Kansspel on 0900-2177.

This article is for informational purposes. 24+. Self-exclude at Cruks. Loket Kansspel — 0900-2177.