In our country, more and more people are choosing SMS casinos for themselves or as the Poles call them “kasyna online wpłaty sms“. However, it is not that easy, as online casinos, with one exception, are banned. Therefore, it is much more difficult to play slots or roulette online than in other countries. There are constantly various changes that make the list of casinos in a particular place grow or shrink. In our article we would like to take a look at how the situation is in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands and gambling
Of course, it’s worth remembering at the outset that the Netherlands today is officially the Netherlands. The name was introduced more with the whole world in mind. It is an expression of a certain freer approach to many things that are associated with this country. After all, it goes without saying that the Netherlands has been famous for years for its liberal approach to drugs, prostitution, which has become one of the destinations of tourists from all over the world. The country is therefore associated with freedom. For this reason, for years, many locals have been fond of online casinos and bookmakers. According to studies conducted in 2020 and 2021, each year residents spend more than 500 or 600 million euros on online gambling. Interestingly, at the time, as many as 60% of those taking part in the survey did not know that online gambling was banned! So this shows that the Dutch people’s freedom-minded approach was somewhat out of step with reality. Other estimates show that even more than 1.5 million residents occasionally or regularly gamble online.
The government’s new course
The Dutch government finally had to admit that the only sensible decision would be to legalize gambling. The same law prevailed here for years as in countries like Poland, where gambling was theoretically illegal, but no one cared too much about it. For this reason, for some time now the government has started working on introducing a new gambling law that would regulate online casinos and bookmakers. The new regulations went into effect on October 1, 2021. Even before that date, the Minister of Legal Protection there announced that all illegal companies were to withdraw from the market, otherwise they could face heavy fines. In view of this, a special regulatory body called the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has been set up, which is not only in charge of accepting applications for licenses and subsequently issuing them, but is also expected to deal with the prosecution of illegal online casinos and bookmakers in the near future.
Already, many well-known companies have faced quite a challenge. They can continue to provide their services illegally in the country. However, with each passing week or month, they face increasing penalties. In addition, the ministry has already announced that brands that delay withdrawing and applying for a license will later have a very difficult time obtaining such a permit, or will simply be blocked from doing so. Already, for this reason, several big brands have not received a financial penalty, but their license applications will not be acceptable until mid-2022.
Quite a few companies, however, have taken the new regulations to heart, and as a result have already applied for gambling licenses. All of this has resulted in the country actually legalizing gambling. So you can use the same sites there today, but this time the whole process is now fully legal. These companies pay taxes, so the government has only benefited from such a solution. This is exactly the case with both bookmakers and casinos. So it’s a similar situation to Poland, where after the changes in gambling law, many bookmaking companies received licenses, and the government could enjoy very large tax revenues. Online casinos, however, look different, although perhaps here too different regulations will be introduced in our country at some point.
So, as you can see, the Netherlands has taken a course towards legalizing gambling, which will probably work out well for the country. A lot of people will finally be able to gamble legally, and their activities will also feed the budget. So there is no need to fear fines, other repercussions related to online gambling.