Reports NETHERLANDS
blackcomedy Holland:a Political pressure is being exerted on one of
the pillars of monopolistic gaming in Europe. Will liberalism of conservatism win out?
The Netherlands is one of the smallest countries in Europe and one of the most densely populated, but it’s also one of the most liberal.
A modern, industrialised nation, the Netherlands was at one time the benchmark for many other European countries eager to have such a healthy AWP gaming market.
Today, the story is a little like a black comedy. Whilst the state-owned Holland Casino controls the casino sector, the street market has been reeling from a tax increase last year which has left it slowly sinking. Although this is a concept the Netherlands is clearly accustomed to the Dutch are now currently wading through the quagmire in a bid to stop the industry from drowning.
The Netherlands is situated in the lowlands of Northwest Europe and is flanked in the north and west by the North Sea, to the east by Germany and Belgium to the south. The country’s highest point is the Vaalserberg Hill in the south east, which is 321m above sea level, meaning that most areas in the north and west (about 25 per cent of the country) are below sea level.
As such the country faces a constant battle with the sea. The last major flood was in 1953 when a huge storm caused the collapse of several dykes and some 1,800 people died. At this point the Dutch government took on the large scale Delta Works project to protect the country against future flooding which took 30 years to complete. In 1995 the country again battled serious flooding when rivers
As the gaming
market in Holland grew, so did the problemwith
gambling addiction
and in 1995 an effort wasmade to curb gamblingmarkets
which resulted in the Nijpels Commission which sawnew standards for machines. This
legislation came into force in 2002.
throughout North West Europe overflowed and the damage and evacuation expenses came to around $1bn.
There has been continual work in the Netherlands since to guard against flooding from building dykes and windmills to pumping water out of low lying areas.
On the other hand due to the amount of water, the country has a huge fishing industry and its location on the estuaries to the three major rivers has enhanced its position as a trading country.
The country is divided by three large rivers – the Rhine, Maas and Scheldt which function as a natural barrier and have almost created a cultural divide between the north and south of the country. The Netherlands has 20 national parks and hundreds of nature reserves
and is criss-crossed by countless rivers and canals important for both shipping and water management.
Although the name Holland is frequently used this actually refers to the two western coastal provinces,
North and South Holland, which have played an important role in the country’s history. With more than 16 million population the country is one of the most densely populated countries in the world (twice that of the UK) and has the 16th
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