Reports EMEA - THE NETHERLANDS
Reflecting on future market opportunity
From past to present, G3 explores the shifting nature of The Netherlands’ journey towards legislation of its online gaming sector
It has been a long road for online gaming regulation in the Netherlands and with a surprise announcement earlier this year that the government now seeks to change the proposed tax rate it is unclear just how successful Holland’s newgaming actwill be if it is eventually approved. All the same the market is a potentially lucrative one with Dutch gamblers spending an estimated €450m to €500m a year on offshore internet gambling sites. Tis is despite the fact that games of chance or promoting games of chance without a licence is prohibited according to Te Dutch Gaming Act of 1964.
While the 1964 act has been amended since
its introduction all forms of gambling are still illegal, unless specifically authorised by the state. Tis has not stopped local operators from having an online presence or offshore operators from offering their services locally even though the only types of licence available are those laid out and expressly stated in the Gaming Act. Te current law lists the specific games for which a licence can be granted and this naturally does not include online gaming. However, there has been a distinct shift in
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policy when it comes to online gaming since 2009 with pressure coming from both the European Court of Justice and from within Dutch institutions. In September 2009, the Dutch government announced that it was going to establish an advisory committee to investigate the best way for it to regulate online gaming in the context of EU law. Before then the government was strongly opposed to online gaming. Te government’s argument for the online gambling ban was that it would help curb gambling addiction in the nation. However, just as the Dutch government was pursuing online operators in the courts it was actively increasing spending on advertising gambling run by the state.
Tis was an increasingly hard stance to
defend and the EU has been instrumental in the shift in Dutch policy towards liberalising the market. Tis was after the Dutch sports betting market was investigated by the EC after a number of eGaming companies complained about Netherlands’ rules when it came to online gaming. Initially the government refused to bow to pressure from the European Court of Justice and defended its online gambling policies to the
European Union’s highest court while Dutch courts argued that the gaming act was compatible with European legislation. However, Ladbrokes, Betfair and the UK
government all made formal complaints about Holland’s gaming laws. In August 2009, the UK government wrote to the Dutch government to protest against plans to pressure banks to refuse online gambling deposits after the government asked banks to stop accepting payments to online casinos. Tis was after the decision by the Dutch
Ministry of Justice to make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to facilitate Dutch citizens gambling on foreign gaming sites and the emergence of a ‘blacklist’ of websites that banks were asked not to transact with. Ladbrokes was also involved in a seven year
long dispute with sports betting monopoly holder DeLotto over the compatibility of Dutch gambling legislation with EU law. Only DeLotto has a license to organise sport betting in Holland and DeLotto organises a limited number of sports bets mostly revolving around football. DeLotto had asked a Dutch court to stop residents from using British bookmaker
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