DUTCH RETHINK ON POKER?
7 August 2009
Minister considers allowing poker outside
casinos - but the monopoly continues
Is the Dutch government starting to adopt a more
enlightened approach to poker? This would appear to be a
possibility following reports that Justice Minister
Ernst Hirsch Ballin wants to increase the number of
venues where Dutch residents can legally play poker for
money in an effort to meet growing demand and reduce
illegal gambling, report various media.
In a
letter to MPs on Tuesday, the minister says he wants to
experiment with permitting poker at venues other than
the state-owned Holland Casino, Dutch News.nl reports.
At present Holland Casino has a monopolistic
stranglehold on the poker market in the Netherlands.
Under the new scheme, Holland Casino could, for
example, set up a poker table in other existing gambling
venues, a report in De Telegraaf confirms. Prior
research of the Dutch market has shown that a total of
some 575 000 mainly males aged between 15 and 34 play
poker "illegally" either in live games or over the
Internet.
The suggestion is that this could be
because there are only 14 Holland Casino venues in the
country, and players may prefer smaller and more
intimate venues.
The Minister's proposal includes
a note that Holland Casino will work with the Justice
ministry on setting up local poker facilities on an
experimental basis, thus maintaining its monopoly.
Online Casino News Courtesy of
Infopowa
More news here.
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