Netherlands lower house finally approves online gambling bill

The Netherlands could launch its regulated online gambling market by Q3 2017 now that parliamentarians have approved the necessary legislation.

The lower house of the Dutch parliament approved the country’s Remote Gaming Bill by a wide majority on Thursday. The Senate is on its summer break, but is expected to pass the bill without too much fuss once they reconvene this autumn.

The legislation imposes a 29% tax on both online and land-based gambling revenue, plus a further 1.5% to fund the activities of the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) regulatory body and another 0.5% to fund problem gambling programs.

The bill underwent a furious spate of amending earlier in the week, including a prohibition on the country’s land-based gambling operators from using their current player databases to market their online sites, a move that ensures they won’t have an unfair advantage over new entrants.