Dutch caution on internet vote

06.02.2008

The determination of the European Commission to ensure that EU member states respect the principles of fair, non-discriminatory passage of trade and services between member nations may be at the root of a surprise hold on a vote in the Dutch parliament this week.

The vote, on whether to permit the state gambling monopoly Holland Casino to launch Internet gambling operations, was delayed in the senate on Tuesday at the request of justice minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin, reports Dutch News.nl.

Turnkey provider Cryptologic has been working with Holland Casino to revitalise the Holland Casino online ambitions, but the European Commission has been insistent on EU nations complying with the trade bloc's principles, and has warned ten of the 27 EU nations against state monopolised activity.

Parliamentary sources told news agency ANP that it is likely a majority of Dutch senators would have voted against the plan.