Unlike several other countries, Holland takes a different stance to gambling and casinos. In the country, the Holland Casino, or as it’s official called, ‘The National Foundation for the Exploitation of Casino Games in the Netherlands’, has the legal monopoly on gambling. It owns fourteen casinos throughout the land and all profits from it go directly in to the Dutch treasury. This provides a great income for The Netherlands, with profits in 2007 being about €267 million – an increase of four million on the previous year.
The main offices, or headquarters of Holland Casino are located in Hoofddorp at the moment, although they will be relocated to a separate tower building of the new Holland Casino in Utrecht. The company’s first establishment opened in Zandvoort on October 1, 1976, although since 2008, the one in Amsterdam is the largest branch of such. Others can be found in towns like Eindhoven, Rotterdam, Valkenburg and Nijmegen. Each of the casinos offer the regular games, such as French and American roulette, as well as Blackjack, Poker and a selection of slots, with the average pay out rate of these being 93%.
Up until 2015, online casino gambling was strictly forbidden in the country, thanks to the Dutch government. In fact, they made history in September of 2013 by issuing a €100,000 fine to illegal online operator, Global Stars. Even before the days of the online gaming world, the Dutch government have not issued a single licence to any casino other than those created by Holland Casino. Strangely enough, it has been legal for citizens of the country to gamble online, but only on websites hosted in the Netherlands. However, because the government don’t and won’t provide licences to such, there have never been any available to sign up to within.
