Dutch Protecting Monopoly

February 6, 2008

Even though the European Union is calling for open borders, there are several countries that are keeping their goods and services right there at home. They are not allowing online gambling to come across their borders, but are allowing it within them. They are trying to hold on to the monopoly that they have created, but the EU is trying to get them to let it go.

The Dutch government is one of the above referenced countries. They are cracking down on any online gambling no matter what the EU has to say about it. They are not allowing any foreign online gambling, and are prosecuting those banks and credit card companies that allow the processing of payments to online gambling sites outside of the country.

They announced that they will be holding them criminally liable and that they would have to be stricter about who they allow to process payments for online gambling – and that it must only be within the country or it will be deemed illegal. They are also allowing advertising of online gambling sites, but again, only within their country.

They are also planning on distributing a list of government banned online gambling sites; presumably this spring. Holland Casino holds the title for all online gambling, and it is a state owned company. They handle more than 400,000 online gambling patrons, and they want to keep it that way. However, they say that there are somewhere around 30 foreign online casinos that are attempting to infiltrate the country, and they won’t have any of that.

The EU has been trying to get them to comply with the rules and regulations for online gambling that the rest of the Union follows, however, they have refused. The EU says now that they may have to take the country before the European Court of Justice to get the Netherlands to comply with the online gambling regulations that they have set forth.





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