The Dutch Government has asked all banks and financial institutions not to transfer money to illegal online gambling sites.
An official government official spokesperson announced that it is illegal to offer gambling services in the Netherlands without a permit from the government and that a list of 30 to 50 companies has been handed over to the banks for all transactions to be blocked.
The Dutch Government also said that they are going to hand over the list to a public prosecutor that would be instructed to bring charges against these companies for offering illegal gambling services.
Currently in Holland only the Dutch State Lottery has the permits needed to offer any type of online gambling and any other company offering such services to Dutch citizens are breaking the law. Last month a bill was defeated in the Dutch Upper House that would have allowed the Holland Casino to temporarily offer online gambling to see if monitoring online gambling can work.
The decision to enforce the Dutch gambling law on online gambling clash with the EU's decision to open up the EU market to all online casinos. Several months ago the EU gave the Netherlands and Greece a last warning before it has said it will begin looking to the courts to force them to allow online casinos to operate in their countries.
A majority of the illegal online gambling is paid for with credit cards.
According to a state spokesperson since this is a Dutch issue Dutch banks have been asked to stop the transfer of money to online casinos.
The issue of online gambling is becoming an issue in the EU since some countries like Britain opening their doors to online gambling with France following behind them and other countries like Holland and Greece wanting a total ban on online gambling.
