Categories: Poker News
| Published On Jan 28, 2014 7:00 am CET  |  Updated on May 2, 2021 11:57 am CEST | By iGaming Team

Netherlands: “Poker is not Gambling”

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A court in Amsterdam ruled that the defendants in a gambling-related case were not guilty of breaking Dutch gambling laws, since they were organizers of a poker tournament and “poker is not gambling”. The ruling, though correct, came seven years too late after an independent investigation shed insight into the roles of luck and skill involved in the game.

The case goes back over seven years when the Café de Viersprong Bussum started hosting small €10 buy-in poker tournaments which were raided by police in 2007. Owners Richard Blaas and Rene Kurver, owners of the cafe, were acquitted of all charges when the court ruled that poker was in fact not a game of chance.

Netherlands might see a host of new gaming laws in early 2015 while the country’s lawmakers define the terminology of separation of skill and chance in the new proposed bills. Maybe then, poker will be subjected to control and regulation by Dutch authorities.