Online Casino of the Year Awards Celebrate Third Edition
The Online Casino of the Year election has reached its third edition and has become an important benchmark within the regulated Dutch gambling market. Consumers were able to cast their votes in ten different categories, ranging from Best Customer Service to Best Bookmaker.
The result is based on a combination of public votes (50%) and the judgment of an independent expert jury (50%). The election was made possible in part by the SBC Summit gambling industry event and the popular game maker Pragmatic Play.
The awards ceremony took place on June 5th in Amsterdam during Gaming in Holland, the most important conference for the regulated Dutch gambling sector. During this renowned event, speakers included the Gaming Authority and Nederlandse Loterij CEO Arjan Blok.
Legal Offer Deserves Visibility
The Dutch online gambling market has been regulated since October 2021 to better monitor the gigantic supply of online gambling. Despite the fact that the legal offer is under strict supervision by the Gaming Authority, the illegal offer is still prominently present for many Dutch people via search engines, apps, and social media. The Online Casino of the Year election aims to contribute to the visibility of providers that operate legally within the Dutch framework.
“The regulated offer is certainly not perfect, there are legitimate critical notes and not everything goes smoothly. But it is still miles above the illegal alternative that does not adhere to any rules. With this election, we want to give the legal offer a platform, and especially give credit to the providers that excel in, for example, customer service, mobile offer, or responsible gaming. In a market where the illegal offer pops up everywhere, visibility of legal, controlled parties is more important than ever. This way, people who want to gamble online at least know where they can do so legally and safely.”
Frank Op de Woerd, editor-in-chief
Involvement Increases
The election was first organized in 2023. In that year, almost 10,000 people voted, with Jacks.nl as the eventual winner in the most important category. In 2024, that number was already over 15,000; Unibet then won the main prize.
The 2025 edition showed further strong growth with 21,511 votes. The involvement of players is partly stimulated by the open nature of the election: everyone could cast a vote in the month of May.
“The election is intended for everyone who is involved in online gambling in the Netherlands, from recreational gamblers to professional poker players and everything in between. The fact that we now receive thousands of votes per category shows that this election really lives in the sector and beyond.”
Armijn Meijer, founder Onetime.nl
Transparency and Full Results
According to the organizers, the election also offers valuable insights for providers. The combined vote of the public and expert jury gives a balanced picture of how providers of legal online gambling perform on various aspects such as product offerings, customer service, and responsible gaming offerings.
Transparency and integrity are paramount at the Online Casino of the Year election. To guarantee this, the organizers use a self-developed voting system that is built on the principle of Zero Trust Architecture. Every voter received a personal e-mail during the process to digitally sign his or her vote. A cryptographic ‘agreement’ was recorded between the voter and the organization about the exact content of the vote. That vote was then stored encrypted on both sides. This created what is also called a “single version of the truth”: one fixed, verifiable voting result that can no longer be changed. Because votes are individually verifiable in this way (but can never be traced back to a person), manipulation is excluded. The full result can therefore be independently checked if desired.
The organizers hope that this election will contribute to further professionalization of the Dutch gambling market and that it will help players make conscious choices within the legal offer.
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