It seems impossible to avoid online gambling debates coming out of Europe. And somewhat ironic since the European Union was to supposed set up universal gambling regulations for all member countries. The EU has even made claims that the UIGEA in the United States violates the fair trade agreements between the US and the EU. But this is a bit hard to uphold with the member countries don’t seem to be agreeing with their own gambling agreements to such an extent that none of them can even disagree with the others disagreeing.
Today I’m seeing news from Holland where the country appointed a committee to review the existing gambling laws. This seems to be a common step for countries. Even Australia where politicians decided to ignore the committee’s report when it came back in favor of gambling. The Holland committee came back with a mixed report. They believe that online poker should be legal in the country. Of course poker players know not to hold their breath until they find out if that means legal and open or legal but restricted, like France.
But unfortunately, the Dutch committee that recommended approving online poker has stated that other forms of online gambling such as casinos, slots and sports betting should be illegal. And some people are crying foul. Why? Well, because sports gambling and the lottery are both currently legal through Holland’s government run DeLotto. No one believes that the report is going to shut down their own gambling structure based on the committee report. So, people believe that the report will be used to create and maintain a government owned monopoly for online gambling. And a monopoly doesn’t have to work to be competitive, so it’s never the best thing for players.