Is Starcasino.nl a Legal Online Casino in the Netherlands?

Yes, Starcasino.nl is a legal online casino in the Netherlands. We operate under licence number 2389 from the Netherlands Gambling Authority (Ksa), issued to our legal entity, Green Island. This number and the official Ksa licence-holder wordmark are also displayed visibly in our website's footer. You can check our legal status for yourself at any time.

How Do I Know If an Online Casino Is Legal?

A legal online casino displays a license number from the Gambling Authority and the official Ksa license holder logo in the footer. It also operates on a .nl domain and is clearly aimed at the Netherlands. During registration, it always performs a Cruks check before you can place a bet. If any of these signs are missing, or if you cannot find the license number anywhere, caution is warranted.

How do I check if a casino license is truly valid?

All license holders are maintained in the public register of the Gaming Authority: enter the name of the provider or the license number there. Therefore, do not only rely on the license number in the footer, but compare it directly with what is stated in the register. If it does not match, do not play with that provider.

Is it illegal for a player to gamble at an unlicensed casino?

In practice, Dutch enforcement focuses on the provider that offers games of chance without a license, not on the player who participates. The law prohibits the offering and promoting of games of chance without a license, but not the act of playing itself. Well-known sanction decisions from the Gaming Authority confirm this pattern. Therefore, the real risk for you does not lie in prosecution, but in the protection you miss out on: no Cruks check, no guarantee of payout, and no oversight on the fairness of games or your deposits. Also, keep in mind that you must declare your winnings from illegal gambling sites to the Tax Authority and pay gaming tax on them. Failure to do so could result in tax evasion.

Legal Online Casino in the Netherlands: What Should You Look Out For?

As a legal online casino licence holder, Starcasino sets out on this page exactly what to look out for before you create an account anywhere. We explain when a casino is legal, how to check a licence yourself with the Netherlands Gambling Authority, and what our own status actually means. Within five minutes, you'll know exactly what to look for.

When Is an Online Casino Legal in the Netherlands?

An online casino in the Netherlands is legal when it holds a valid licence from the Netherlands Gambling Authority (Ksa). These are granted under the Remote Gambling Act (the Koa Act). The act came into force on 1 April 2021, after which operators could apply for a licence for the first time.

Exactly six months later, on 1 October 2021, the regulated market actually opened its doors. That's when the Ksa handed out the first licences and licensed operators could go live. Whether an online casino is legal in the Netherlands therefore comes down to exactly one criterion: a valid licence from the Ksa.

Brand recognition, a professional-looking website, or technically accepting Dutch players says nothing in itself about legality. Only a licensed casino, checked against the Ksa's public register, gives you a definitive answer on which online casino is legal and which isn't.

Every legal online casino displays its licence number visibly on the site. But a licence like this isn't just a formality. It comes with concrete obligations, which we'll go into in more depth below.

Why Does a Ksa Licence Matter for a Legal Casino in the Netherlands?

A licence is far more than a badge on the website of every legal casino in the Netherlands. It obliges providers to carry out strict identity verification for every player, before any bet can even be placed. Every new registration must also be checked automatically against Cruks, the central exclusion register. That way, players who've excluded themselves can't open a new account at any legal casino.

The rules of the Act on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing (Wwft) also apply. The Ksa also actively supervises operators and can impose fines or even revoke licences. For you as a player, the practical benefit of a trustworthy online casino is that a licensed operator can't simply vanish with your balance or refuse to pay out. There's a regulator standing behind it that actually enforces the rules and always guarantees your money.

Safe Online Gambling in the Netherlands at a Legal Casino

At a casino with a licence, you get concrete protection, not just principles on paper. Every new registration is checked against the Cruks register before the account is even activated. That keeps online gambling legal in the Netherlands restricted to adults who haven't excluded themselves.

Your identity and age are verified before you can place a bet. In practice, this is usually done through an ID scan, since that works quickly and automatically. That said, the law itself doesn't prescribe a specific method, and manual document verification is an accepted alternative.

Deposit limits also apply. New players at a legal online casino in the Netherlands automatically get a standard limit of €350 per month (€150 for young adults aged 18 to 24). If you want to set a higher limit, a mandatory personal contact moment with the operator is required first. During this, you're made aware of the risks. You'll find more about these tools on our responsible gambling page.

With a net deposit of more than €700 per month (€300 for young adults), the operator must also check whether you can afford this financially. This is usually done on the basis of proof of income. Only then can the higher limit be approved.

Finally, every legal online casino has to show that it holds a Dutch licence. As the Koa Act prescribes, this is done by displaying the ‘Vergunninghouder Kansspelautoriteit’ wordmark along with the licence number. These are the rules you experience as a player every single day.

Starcasino.nl as a Legal Online Casino in the Netherlands

A simple and fair question to ask is whether Starcasino operates legally in the Netherlands. The fact that this legal online casino is allowed to operate isn't an empty claim. The licence is held in the name of the Belgian legal entity Green Island N.V. (company number BE 0422.851.308). On 15 October 2024, we obtained licence number 2389 from the Netherlands Gambling Authority.

You'll find this number, along with the Ksa's official licence-holder wordmark, in the footer of our online casino in the Netherlands. It's hyperlinked so you can compare it directly against the Ksa's public register and against openovergokken.nl's own gambling guide.

That also confirms we're a legal operator permitted to offer online casino games against the licence holder, as well as online sports betting. As described above, this also comes with mandatory identity and Cruks checks, deposit limits, and supervision.

Because every detail, from the entity name to the licence number, can be publicly checked at the Ksa, you don't have to take our word for it. Feel free to verify it yourself before creating an account at this legal online casino in the Netherlands.

Legal or Illegal Online Casino: What's the Difference?

The difference between an illegal casino and a legal online casino isn't in how the site looks, but in what happens when something goes wrong. An illegal casino has no link to Cruks, so a self-exclusion you've set elsewhere doesn't apply there. And that undermines exactly the purpose that legal casinos in the Netherlands are required to connect to it for.

There's also no independent oversight of game fairness, no guarantee that a dispute is handled fairly, and no regulator to turn to if a payout is refused or delayed. Illegal casinos also don't pay gambling tax on winnings, whereas a legal online casino pays this on your behalf, so your winnings always stay entirely yours.

Some illegal operators do actually hold a licence, just a foreign one that doesn't cover Dutch laws. A site like that can look legitimate at first glance, but there no real protections behind it. That's unlike a legal casino in the Netherlands with a Ksa licence.

That's why legal casinos in the Netherlands feel so much more trustworthy once you know what to look out for. The fact that an online casino operates legally in the Netherlands is a meaningful guarantee. It's not a theoretical risk either, since the Ksa actively investigates and fines unlicensed operators that offer gambling to Dutch players. It's worth checking yourself, at every legal Dutch online casino, whether the operator holds a valid Ksa licence, rather than relying on how professional a site looks.