Balkanization, as seen in an article penned earlier today by VP of the Bodog Network Jonas Ödman, is increasingly the way that many of Europe’s newly regulated iGaming markets are going. The current year is thought to be one where regulation will happen at quite the rate of knots, the Netherlands being one of many countries that will quite possibly take the plunge.
According to the news site, DutchNews.nl, the government is strongly considering auctioning off a number of online gambling licenses much like the oft-criticized French did in 2010.
The Dutch government hopes the auction, that will take place next year as opposed to the current one, will raise the country €10m in license fees and the earlier reported revenue of around €270m.
It’s likely to anger many that they’re looking at the French model, none more so than the online gambling sites that are likely to turn their collective nose up at any deal put on the table, according to a report in Financieele Dagblad. This may well include Betfair and Ladbrokes who have both expressed an interest in operations in the low country in the past.
Draft legislation is currently being drawn up but you feel that they could at least have a look at what Italy is doing with online gambling. Unless they actually believe everyone is too stoned to notice them adopting a French-style system, they shouldn’t be surprised to find those gambling industry folk from inside their own borders coming out to criticize the plans. Let alone those foreign firms that see fit to operate.
