Reports EMEA - THE NETHERLANDS
Elections had brought a new coalition government into power between the PvdA (Labour) and VVD (Liberal) parties in Holland and on 29 October 2012 the government stated that it would reform and modernise gambling policy in the country.
received its reappointment as the only lottery provider without any competition. With pressure mounting a significant and
surprising turnaround came in 2011 not from the European Court but from the Dutch Council of Statewhich ruled in favour of Betfair. Based on the advice given by the European Court of Justice, the Dutch Council of State ruled that the Dutch Ministry of Justice’s refusal to grant Betfair a license in the Netherlands was illegal and that the licensing procedure then in place was against European Union law. Tis decision had a significant effect on subsequent government policy when it came to opening up the market.
THE LIBERALISATION OF THE MARKET Te liberalisation of the market was also helped
by a significant shift in opinion in local courts andwithin the government itself. InAugust 2010, the Dutch Games of Chance via Internet committee recommend the legalisation of online poker. Te committee stated that over half a million Dutch had gambled online in the previous 12 months and that poker was the most popular form of online gambling, followed by
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casino games. Te committee also found that in order to protect Dutch residents who were playing poker online that online poker should be regulated under Dutch law. Tis led to a much wider debate on online gambling. Soon afterwards in October 2010, Dutch
media reported that the Netherlands would regulate all forms of online gambling. Tese plans were fuelled by the final ruling of the Dutch Council of State when it came to Betfair and its previous complaint to the EC regarding gaming policy in the Netherlands. In March 2011 the State Secretary of Security
and Justice Fred Teeven outlined proposals to parliament, in which not only the online market would be opened up to offshore operators, but the land-based monopoly on casino gaming would also come to an end. Troughout the many debates that followed the government emphasised that they would adhere to the three current guiding principles of gaming policy as already enshrined in the original 1964 act and these would continue to apply when it came to the online space. Tese were: consumer protection, the prevention of problem gambling and the prevention of criminal activity.
Crucially the new law would also bring an
estimated 80 per cent of consumers into the licensed marketplace and would raise much needed tax revenue in an increasingly difficult economic climate. So that the government would be able to
regulate the industry it was announced that a newly formed gaming board the Games of Chance Authority (KSA) would be formed on 1 April 2012. After elections in March 2012, when the incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte formed a new coalition government, it was also announced that licenses for interactive gambling would be issued before the end of their new term. Elections had brought a new coalition
government into power between the PvdA (Labour) and VVD (Liberal) parties in Holland and on 29 October 2012 the government stated that it would reform and modernise gambling policy in the country. Leader of the coalition Mark Rutte has been a
long time supporter of establishing a legal gaming regime in the Netherlands and the coalition’s policy regarding online gaming were part of an initiative to raise taxes in the face of a
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