The future of online regulation in the Netherlands was discussed at the first Gaming Holland Conference on June 5.

Held at the Olympic Stadium of Amsterdam, the event saw a broad range of gaming-related topics discussed, the most popular of which was the upcoming election on September 12. With the new Gaming Authority having started on April 1, one of the main topics was the effect the elections will have on the original plans of the State Secretary for a new gaming policy.

The day started with a word of welcome by Willem van Oort, CEO of Gran Via Online, after which Justin Franssen, partner at VMW Tax, highlighted the most important legal and regulatory elements in the path to online gaming in the Netherlands. Depending on the outcomes of the elections, Franssen expects remote gambling licences to be available by 2013 or 2014.

He went on to participate in a debate on the future of online regulation in the Netherlands with Dr Morten Roende, CEO of the Danish Online Gambling Association, and Eric van Vondelen, former secretary of the Gaming Control Board of the Netherlands and now independent gaming advisor. Roende shared Franssen’s optimism, stating that the gaming market has grown beyond expectation and pointing to the fact that online gaming doesn’t cause cannibalisation of the old casino monopolies. Van Vondelen, however, was slightly more cautious. He expects online regulation not to be completed before 2015 at the earliest. In the original plans of the now demissionary State Secretary, the Senate would have voted for online regulation in May this year. This would probably have raised aproximately €10m for the government. Now, with elections coming up, the future of online regulation has become uncertain.