The United States may soon be able to separate
themselves from the list of countries resisting online casinos and the
expansion of online gambling. The Dutch government is still fighting
the uphill battle. Despite the clearly stated principals of the
European Union which allows free movement of goods and services across
the boarders of member countries, the Dutch are determined to protect
state run gambling monopolies against online casinos from foreign
countries.
Fortunately the Netherlands is experiencing some
stiff resistance from the online gambling world and the European
continent. Not only is the Netherlands facing a legal attack from
Betfair, the European Commission has launched an investigation into the
possible non compliance with European Union trade agreements.
However the Dutch will not simply lay down to
online casinos but continues to fight the trend. Recently Dutch
Minister of Justice, Ernst Hirsch Ballin attempted disrupt the business
of online casinos by forcing Dutch banks to stop processing transactions
from online casinos and online gambling sites. This move is very
similar to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 in the
United States. Just last week legislation was introduced that may
overturn the United States law.
“The European Commissioner [Charlie McCreevy] has
asked the appropriate services to start an investigation into the
banking blockade,” said a European Union spokesperson.
“As far as we are aware, the Netherlands is the
only country in Europe to do such a thing.”
Holland recently attempted the same actions when
their Justice Ministry threatened banks and other financial institutions
with legal prosecution if they continued to process transactions from
online casinos.