In the Netherlands the government has a monopoly on gambling both off-line and online, but an end to this gambling monopoly may come soon, as the Internet Gambling Advisory has given an advice to the Minister of Finance that online poker should be legalized on the Internet.
Lea Bouwmeester of the Labour Party says that legalisation of online poker is not enough and says they will come with a complete online casino legalization proposal of their own. In the Netherlands, only Holland Casino may offer poker services over the Internet, but according to the Commission, online poker is massively played by the Dutch, and not the site of Holland Casino. Because there are so many online poker offerings, the committee wants to grant a number of licenses to the largest online poker providers. According to the Commission already much of the Dutch poker players play on those sites, but it is unlicensed and un-taxed. The commission suggests it is better to regulate en license.
The proposal also asks for the possibility that ISP’s can block access to the illegal Internet poker online sites. The Labour Party will present a proposal for the complete legalization of online gambling in the Netherlands next month.