On Monday, Keurmerk Verantwoorde Affiliates (KVA), the Dutch casino affiliate quality mark, voiced concerns about the role of Google search in directing Dutch consumers towards illegal online gambling sites, in a LinkedIn post.
The group highlighted potential risks posed by Google’s organic search features beyond paid advertising, which include autocomplete and suggested queries.
Google autocomplete linked to illegal online casinos
Using data collected primarily through Chrome’s incognito mode to exclude personalised search histories, the KVA identified several autocomplete and pre-fill search queries that directly suggested illegal gambling platforms to users.
Examples included phrases like “online casino zonder Cruks” (online casino without CRUKS, the Dutch self-exclusion registry for problem gamblers) and “beste online casino buitenland” (best online casino abroad).
KVA expressed concern over the potential manipulation of Google’s autocomplete function by unauthorised operators and websites primarily set up to redirect Dutch consumers to illegal gambling offers.
While acknowledging Google’s cooperation in removing paid advertisements promoting illegal casinos, the KVA emphasised the need for the company to take more comprehensive measures addressing organic search results.
Dutch lawmakers step up pressure on illegal gambling
Dutch MPs have raised similar concerns before. In December 2025, CDA MP Straatman asked the state secretary whether websites advertising as “Beste casino’s zonder Cruks” should be taken offline immediately.
In a written response published in January 2026, Arno Rutte, the state secretary at the time acknowledged that enforcement against such sites remained limited, particularly for domains not registered under the .nl extension.
According to KVA, KT van Bruggen, the current state secretary for Justice and Security, has pointed out the urgency of implementing effective countermeasures to limit access to such illegal platforms.
Last week a committee made up of MPs from across the Netherlands’ political spectrum also raised concerns around the role of Meta and Google in supporting the black market.
Candidates from the VVD party urged the government to take a “harder stance” against these big tech platforms.
Vasn Bruggen told the gambling committee that both Meta and Google were open to maintaining a dialogue with the government on this.
She said the government would receive a report every six months on illegal gambling advertising across these platforms.
Europe-wide concerns
The KVA’s statement mirrors a broader European regulatory trend where authorities are increasingly scrutinising how major internet platforms facilitate traffic to unlicensed gambling services.
In Sweden, Spelinspektionen recently flagged affiliates and social media as key channels for black market advertising and how affiliate networks redirect search traffic towards unlicensed operators.
Regulators have so far focused mainly on monitoring paid advertising. In Germany, the GGL credited an updated Google ad policy with reducing black market visibility. Yet, it acknowledged that illegal operators could still achieve visibility in organic search through SEO manipulation.
This points to a wider shift towards addressing organic search signals and domain-level practices such as doorway pages, an issue also raised in the UK, where research has linked black market migration to search-driven promotion and SEO exploitation.
