Dutch Justice Cracks Down

Published: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 Online-Casinos.com

According to news reports from the Netherlands, Dutch justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin will crack down on the illegal online gambling.

Some online gambling websites in the country are pushing the buttons of the Dutch justice ministry. It will be targeting both foreign-based gambling companies, as well as domestic. The justice minister also told the local banks that they may face legal action, as well, since they would be breaking the law if gambling websites are their customers.

All gambling in the Netherlands is government controlled. Companies are not allowed to offer gambling without permission. In the Netherlands, this is not a new scenario, last year the justice minister named Swedish online gambling company Unibet and Dutch firm Oranje Casino in a request to local banks to not process their transactions.

The European Union is still having issues with the Netherlands, and Greece, over their unwillingness to open their gambling markets to the rest of the EU members and end state gambling monopolies.

The online gambling world is full of these situations. Revenues are up for online gambling operators and everyone is struggling to maintain their own piece of the pie. At the same time there are rules and rules are not much good if no one pays any attention to them. This attempt to restrict online gambling in Holland follows the already failed American attempt at cracking down on the banks who support online gambling. The Dutch continue to fight illegal online gambling the American way.