Supreme Court Receives Opinion of the Advocate General in Online Gambling Cases

On 28 November 2025, Advocate General Lindenbergh (AG) delivered his long-awaited opinion to the Supreme Court in two prejudicial proceedings concerning claims brought by players against foreign online gambling operators that were active on the Dutch market without a local licence prior to 1 October 2021.

The central prejudicial question in these cases is whether such contracts for gambling services that were offered being offered in breach of the prohibition on providing unlicensed games of chance are void, thereby allowing players to reclaim their losses. Franssen Tolboom Attorneys at Law submitted a written statement as a third party in these proceedings, which is similar to an amicus brief. In our statement, we argued why the Dutch Betting and Gambling Act (Wet op de kansspelen, BGA) was never intended to affect the civil validity of gambling agreements and, in the alternative, that any such effect has been lost over time due to societal developments. On either basis, these agreements should not be regarded as void.

The AG concludes that the BGA never affected the validity of contracts for gambling services in civil law. Consequently, the fact that gambling services were offered without a local licence does not provide former players with grounds to recover their losses on the grounds of undue payment. Whilst the Supreme Court often follows the approach taken by the AG in a particular matter, it is not bound to do so. A judgment is expected in the first quarter of 2026.