Increase in gambling addiction

More people are experiencing a gambling addiction today, revealed figures from the Dutch healthcare information foundation, IVZ. 

The figures of people seeking treatment for gambling addiction in the Netherlands have risen by 24 per cent since 2022. In October 2021, online gambling became legalised, which the experts say, has had a “devastating effect.”

Since then, 450,000 more gamblers, including teenagers, started betting, according to the NRC Press. “We expected it would be a couple of years from 2021 before people with a gambling addiction would turn to organisations for help,” said the spokeswoman for the network of addiction centre, Verslavingszorg Nederland Floor to the Press.

“It takes time to become addicted, which means the effects of online gambling did not show up in the figures for a long time,” stated the spokeswoman.

In 2023, almost 2.500 people were treated for a gambling addiction in the Netherlands.  88 per cent were male and 17 per cent were younger than 25. Today, the figures continue to rise.