Bill to privatise Holland Casino withdrawn

The bill to privatise Holland Casino and modernise the casino regime in the Netherlands has been withdrawn.

Netherlands.- Dutch Justice Minister Sander Dekker has officially withdrawn the bill for modernization of the gaming casino regime in the Netherlands. He addressed his move in a letter issued on Friday to the Senate.

The bill proposed the sale of the state-owned Holland Casino, which has fourteen branches throughout the country. The plan was to do this in two clusters: one of ten branches and one of four. Furthermore, the proposal was to auction two new, separate locations. This would open up the casino market to a limited extent.

The treatment of the bill coincided in February with the treatment of another gambling bill that discussed games of chance. There were political groups in the Senate who indicated that they had serious doubts about the desirability of the two legislative proposals to coincide. Minister Dekker has therefore now withdrawn the modernisation bill.

Back in February, the minister cancelled the vote due to the number of objections that the measure suffered in the Senate. The Financieele Dagblad said that senators’ concerns revolve around the fact that privatised casinos may encourage gambling. They showed concern about the way that the government was planning to proceed with the privatisation process, Dutch News informed.