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Netherlands: Poker is not gambling!
A new echo on gambling comes back in the Netherlands, after the closure of the Café « of Viersprong » of Bussum in 2007. Within four years, the Dutch justice has made public two verdicts on poker as being a game of skill but not of chance. That means that poker is not subject to laws on gambling. Seven years were necessary for Amsterdam Court to study the charges retained against Richard Blaas and Rene Kurver, who have been accused for having broken the law on gambling. Both men have proposed regularly rebuy poker tournaments at 10 at the Café « of Viersprong ». Following the opening of the lawsuit, the police closed the establishment in 2007.
After a seven-year trial, the charges retained on both men were finally abandoned. The decision leans on the result of an investigation carried out by a group of independent experts, about the role of skillfulness and chance in poker. In 2010, the same verdict was returned about the counts of indictment against the professional player Steven van Zadelhoff. The fact that two different courts have come to the same conclusion brings a renewed optimism to Dutch poker actors, about a possible regulation of poker in the country. Because now, you should not forget that a prosecutor has always the right to interrupt a poker tournament and sanction the organizer. Prospects about new laws on gambling in the Netherlands could be adopted at the beginning of 2015.
Source: James WILLIAMS
Tuesday, 28 January 2014
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