Gambling News by Gambling Headquarters

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.