Holland Casino Gets Temporary Internet License

Dutch state-owned Holland Casino will get a temporary license to test games of chance via the Internet. The evaluation period will span at least two years.

The Dutch Cabinet Council, on request of the Minister of Justice, has approved a new bill authorizing the temporary license, although Karin Maks, a spokeswoman of Holland Casino, suggested that the policy won't go into effect anytime soon.

"We do not expect that the special bill will be passed before the end of the year," Maks said. "Above that, we still have to discuss the exact preconditions, guarantees, restrictions and the games we may offer, as well as the proportionality between the games and the tables."

Under strict control, the government wants to gather expertise on the effects of Internet gambling. There will be a strict policy for the prevention of compulsive gambling via the Internet; players will be registered, there will be digital monitoring of the players' behavior and there will be playing time limits and maximized stakes per game.

Holland Casino, which surrenders all its net profits to the Dutch state (except for amounts allocated to its capital), has to assure authorities that only Dutch players can participate. There will be an obligation for an off-line registering procedure, which will prevent that foreign players from participating. This is in strong contrast with the company's bricks-and-mortar facilities in the Netherlands, where foreigners are allowed to play and cross-border promotion and advertising is a part of the international marketing mix. Holland Casino has a Web site in the Dutch, English and German languages.

During the test period there will be a broad supervision commission with representatives of the Netherlands Gaming Control Board, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the Research and Documentation Centre of the Dutch Ministry of Justice, the Netherlands Mental Health Association, organizations in the field of gambling Addiction and Holland Casino.

On basis of the test results from the two-year evaluation period, decisions will be made concerning structural acceptance of the interactive gambling possibilities via the Internet and the necessary preconditions.

Research shows that 5.3 percent of the Dutch Internet population participated in Internet games of chance in 2004 and 144 million euro was gambled at foreign sites.

The goal of the Dutch gambling policy is to regulate and control games of chance, with special attention to gambling addiction, consumer protection and the prevention of illegal gambling and criminal behavior.

Holland Casino holds a monopoly on casino gambling in the Netherlands through a license granted by the Dutch government in 1976. The company, which runs 12 terrestrial casinos in the Netherlands and employs nearly 5,000 people, generated net revenue of 123.7 million euro in 2004 and 129.2 million euro in 2003.

As stated on its Web site, Holland Casino aims to become a leading European gaming organization. In addition to running land-based casinos in the Netherlands, the company has gaming interests in Denmark, Canada, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and other countries.

These intentions are made clear, despite findings in the 2004 Report of the Supervisory Board of Holland Casino, which states:

"Our ambition to become a leading European gaming organization is no longer appropriate, as the government has now abandoned its policy intention of introducing open competition on the casino market.
The consortium Eurocasino, of which Holland Casino was a member, was not selected to operate the new casino in Brussels. The only remaining opportunity for substantial international expansion has therefore been closed to us.
Holland Casino continues to seek growth in its market in the Netherlands, by means of expansion and the replacement of existing locations. Permission has been sought to operate new casinos in seven areas in which accessibility to a Holland Casino is poor."