Holland if You Hear US

Despite the utter failure that the UIGEA has turned out to be here in the United States, it apparently has not stopped the Dutch legislation from considering a similar solution to their online casino gambling situation. The Justice Minister Hirsch Ballin has been pushing for the last few months for a similar law to pass, in which Dutch banks will also be responsible for identifying and rejecting any transactions with online casinos. Bankers in the Netherlands, of course, have been watching the activity of the banks here in the US and their hardships with the law and the implementation of it, and are up in arms against the passing of this new law. Not only will that mean more work for the banks there, but it means that they will have to figure out what transactions constitute illegal activity and then take the extra measures to shoot them down.

Holland also has their own gambling monopoly in the Holland Casino, so the deal is trying to sift through the various unlicensed online slots casinos that are trying to get in on the action in the Netherlands. Ballin introduced his Online Gambling Act in part to reduce the competition, but it makes the same mistakes that have already been made here in the US. 

Futhermore, there is the issue of jurisdiction, which also raises the question of what will happen to those who are caught in illegal activity. Who has the authority to decide if their actions were unlawful, and then who has the authority to prosecute? On paper, maybe the online casino law sounds good, but in practice, it has more holes than swiss cheese.