Dutch review committee releases long awaited gaming verdict

The legal status of gaming in Holland has been under scrutiny since the establishment of a review committee by the Dutch Ministry of Justice. Now the committee has published its report advising the legalization of online poker under a non exclusive licensing scheme. The review goes on to state that additional gambling services including sports betting, bingo as well as additional casino services are to stay prohibited in the public domain. 

The six person advisory committee was set up in September 2009 and was chaired by the Queen’s Commissioner, G.J. Jansen. The review acknowledged the popularity of online poker but argued that no single operator could command a major share of the market. online poker licenses will therefore now be issued to individual operators. Illegal activity will be curtailed by integrating online operators into a regulated and controlled regime. licenses are to be issued for determined periods of time in an attempt to make the system more transparent to the public.

The findings have been met with the hostility of the gaming community. The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) offered a fierce attack of Jansen's review and dubbed the report " short of the mark" . Commenting on the report, RGA's Clive Hawkswood said that the review represented  "a missed opportunity to follow the same path as other jurisdictions, such as Denmark, which do not seek to discriminate against different forms of gambling and recognize that all are capable of being properly regulated."  The debate will no doubt continue to rage throughout Holland and the European Union at large. All members of the gaming community will no doubt be watching very carefully indeed.