Dutch Supreme Court Ousts Foreign Online Poker Companies

by Mario Alfonsi  |  Published on Mar 5, 2012  |  Updated on Mar 5, 2012

A decade-long legal battle was settled for the time being this week, as the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that foreign online poker operators must block players from the Netherlands from participating on their sites.The ruling is a critical step in an effort by the Dutch government to regulate online poker in the Netherlands. In 2003, legislation was passed to set up a regulatory framework there, including a licensing system that would allow operators to provide internet gambling to residents of Holland.However, the only licenses issued by the government went to local government operators. Essentially, the Dutch Lotto became the only organization offering licensed online gambling in the state, while foreign operators were locked out of the market entirely. While the Dutch government has considered offering wider licensing, such legislation has yet to pass.These developments resulted in a series of legal challenges. In fact, the Dutch Supreme Court had to wait to deliver their ruling, as they first wanted to hear the opinion of the European Court of Justice. That body ruled in 2010 that Holland could block foreign operators from their online gambling system, provided that they could show that the move was designed to reduce fraud or discourage people from gambling, rather than being an attempt to monopolize the market at the expense of other EU operators.Once that ruling came down, Dutch courts were able to rule themselves that foreign online gambling firms had the responsibility to block players from the Netherlands from their sites. The court’s ruling says that those companies must take steps to prevent Dutch players from gambling for real money, and that it is not the responsibility of internet service providers to block access to those sites.In addition, the ruling also made it clear that Dutch banks that process payments to and from foreign gambling sites could also be prosecuted for doing so. That follows a 2011 law that asked banks to block payments to those sites.