Saturday, September 16, 2006

State-owned monopoly Holland Casino is to be given a licence to offer games
of chance on the Internet. The Lower House has supported a proposal by
Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner for a two-year trial. The Netherlands has
an estimated 300,000 people who sometimes try their luck with an illegal
game of chance on the Internet, according to Donner. He wants to lure them
away by a site controlled by Holland Casino. If it turns out that the number
of Internet gamblers has increased after two years, "the trial will not have
succeeded," said the minister. The European Commission is keeping a sharp
eye on developments in the Netherlands. The Dutch allow only one,
state-controlled gambling provider: Holland Casino. This policy is formally
banned in the EU, but Donner has so far claimed with success that it is
allowed all the same because the Dutch government policy is aimed at
preventing gambling addiction.However, Donner does not plan to set a
play-money limit for the new gambling site. If a maximum amount is imposed
for playing, this would be unnecessarily restricting for people with plenty
of money, while the unemployed would perhaps take higher risks than they
could handle, he reasoned. Only for people aged between 18 and 23 will a
limit be set; they will not be allowed to play with more than 100 euros a
week.The Christian democrats (CDA) and Labour (PvdA), together forming a
parliamentary majority, support Donner's proposed bill. The conservatives
(VVD) still have doubts. Donner repeated that he is in no way whatsoever
prepared to relax Dutch gambling policy or to risk this being endangered by
the trial.