Holland has long been one of those countries where you can smoke dope, visit and use the red light district, but critically the choices that you can make when it comes to online gambling are, well, European. This means that the government monopoly runs it and doesn’t want anyone else, whoever they may be, stealing any of the best pie money can buy. That was until the Commission Jansen came along and blasted all the earlier assertions out of the water, and explained to the government that their plan to block access to certain sites using a complex canal system had failed, and the companies were yodeling all over shop about how they’d infiltrated.
Now a report in the Telegraaf suggests that the Dutch may well legalise online gambling at some point in the near future leading to revenue of around €270 million, and see if you can wipe the smiles off the faces of Ladbrokes and Betfair were that to happen. The only problem is that they look as though they’re in cahoots with the French meaning that this could be a lengthly process, and getting licenses may well be a selective and tricky process.
Isn’t it good to see that the European Union’s free trade environment is alive and well!
