Dutch Minister vows to crack down on illegal online gambling

Dutch justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin has promised to crack down on the illegal online gambling websites in the country, according to news reports from the Netherlands. According to the Dutch justice ministry, it's currently targeting both foreign-based gambling companies, as well as domestic, but refused to give divulge more details or any specifics. The justice minister also warned the local banks that they may face legal action, as well, since they would be breaking the law if having gambling websites as their customers.

Currently all gambling in the country is in the hands of the government and companies are not allowed to offer gambling without a permit. But this is nothing new for the Netherlands, last year the justice minister named Swedish online gambling company Unibet and Dutch firm Oranje Casino in a list of online gambling websites distributed to local banks with request by the government to stop processing payments for the companies on that list. Meanwhile the European Union is still at odds with the Netherlands, as well as Greece, over their unwillingness to open their gambling markets to the rest of the EU members.

Published on 01/28/2009