Online casinos have taken a stumble backward in Holland.  A bill to allow the Holland Casino to open a trial online casino was defeated in the upper house of the Dutch Parliament.  Holland Casino is the state-owned monopoly on gambling and casinos.  Were it not for the rejection of this bill it would have dominated online casinos in the country as well.

HollandCasino.com was only defeated by a slim margin.  According to the Dutch Senate website, the vote was 35 to 37 in favor of the opposition.  The lower house approved the test online casino back in 2006.

The ruling indicates legislators in Holland are being much more cautious perhaps due to the watching eye of the European Commission.  The European Commission has actively been attempting to increase competition between online casinos in the European Union.  Both Greece and The Netherlands received final warnings from the Commission for restrictions in their gaming markets.

An online casino from Holland Casino would have been a detriment to online casinos from PartyGaming, Sportingbet, and Bwin.  Dutch gamblers would have had the liberty to bet legally at a state run site and would most likely take business away from online casinos run outside of Holland.

Holland Casino and CryptoLogic had been working very close together in the development of the online casino.  The effect of the ruling on future online casino endeavors is yet unclear.