Yesterday news received me that as of October 1st new lincensing laws will mean that Pokerstars will be banned in the Netherlands untill they obtain a legal license. (Source in Dutch: https://www.casinonieuws.nl/wetgevin...-na-1-oktober/)

There is nothing to be found how this will play out and what the consequents are. Curious what this will mean for example for Lex Veldhuis as streamer etc.

Posted before in Poker site discussion but maybe this will get some traction here with more info.

no consequences, they will just buy a licence like in other countries, its too profitable of a country.

is that a guess or a fact?

i think ive read somewhere (a while ago) that the netherlands wouldnt be seperated from the world player pool (like pokerstars.it & pokerstars.es) but i cant find that article right now

As far as I unsterstand the Netherlands will online allow legal operators starting October 1st. Only company's which allready applied for a license will be allowed.

Pokerstars (and party I believe) won't be receiving a license since they broke some advertisement laws previously. They will however be able to get an official license but probably somewhere in 2022. At first it was said in the meantime it would be allowed for Dutch players to keep playing with some restrictions for advertising untill the license would be legal. But yesterday the Dutch minister for this department announced they want to actively ban "illegal" sites starting October 1st which would mean no more play for Dutch players untill the legal license will be obtained.

That's just what I understand. But there is nothing to find on what are the direct issues for players and how this will be processed.

This is correct. This is a change of plans, 10 days before regulation. Unless PokerStars wants to jeopardize their future license application and risk a fine, they'll have to comply with this latest development - the way I see it. Lex will have to move, or play on sites like GG or Holland Casino Online that are set to get a license. I'm sure PS won't be happy with the latter option so Lex will have to figure something out.

Nothing has been announced yet on how this is going to work exactly. The minister left the regulator some time for implementation so the online casino's can let the players cash out. PS complied with the cooling down since early 2019, so I expect them to be able to apply for a license soon and get it in Q2 2022.

Frank (the writer of the article quoted in OP)

well thats just terrible news, im dutch, so i cannot play pokerstars after october 1st?

somehow i totally missed this news, i doubt many dutch players know

October 1st is not set in stone, could also be some days into October or later. But soon, PS, party, Unibet, etc will be offline - is the general understanding of people involved.

in the faq of the article it states about stars/unibet:

If they comply with the call to ban dutch players they will ask those players to cash out prior

i havent seen a mail from them about this so lets play for the time being... although i hope i never get that mail

They basically waited til last minute to inform players in other markets. So even if the date was October 1, they probably wouldn’t have announced anything yet.

Fingers crossed you guys can stay in the international player pool. Can’t really compare the Netherlands to Spain and Italy in that regards. Spain is 3 times the size, Italy 4 times.

I'm curious how they will enforce everything. Will accounts be completely closed? Can you play with your account again ones it's legal etc?

Currently I play untill September 30 and will then cashout untill further notice. Don't want to be in a position were my funds are freezed. Sad after 15 years of play on stars...

very weird too that 12 days for october 1st he changes plans

This is not about staying in the international player pool or not. This is about closing Dutch account till PokerStars gets a license. When they do (Q2 2022?), the Dutch players will for sure be part of the international player pool.

This is all very fresh and was a surprise for the operators. I'm sure there are some calls and meetings now on how to proceed. The minister asked the regulator to enforce the policy (and we know this as he formally informed the House of Representatives), but the regulator hasn't announced anything themselves just yet.

lets hope the regulators dont blindly follow dekker then

btw not to derail the thread but quick question, i believe you guys are from the dutch pokernews site... which has been down for quite a while now.. what is going there?

That's really ****ed up! I'm playing heads up at PokerStars, and it's my only source of income. I guess I will need to learn 6-max then. Since heads up cash isn' offered on any licensed site.

****!

Yep, I was talking about the future when PS hopefully gets a license. Good to hear you guys will stay with the international pool.

Good Luck Netherlands, same took place in Switzerland June 2019, took 2 years to find an Casino which holds now pokerstars.ch very long pandemic in switzerland without OnlinePoker.

But we can play again, fortunately in the international player pool
We can now play since mid -July and we are happy punters again. Even without spinandgos (Which are not allowed, to gambly !!)
Migration was a nightmare, took a full month, but all working.

Lex still living in netherlands? Guess he needs to move if he wants to stream in the future. Pretty big spot for someone to take if he decides to focus on the family for now.

I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think the regulator has a lot of say in this.

I was with PokerNews (and PokerNews.nl) for 12 years but was let go end of 2019. I since started a new site, as quoted in the OP. The Dutch PokerNews recently went offline, something to do with trying to be compliant.

Does anyone know which sites will have a license after 1 October?

Nobody knows for sure. The expectation is that Holland Casino’s online site (using Playtech’s iPoker network) and GGPoker are amongst the first to get a license. bet365 and SuperGame could offer poker as well and be early with a license, but definitely not a given.

once again GG poker > pokerstars

RIP Henk.

Today, the regulator published its new policy's. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links to my own website, but I detail a lot of it there.

In short:

• New policy goes into force November 1st
• The regulator prioritizes websites with a lot of Dutch players
• Fine goes up from €150k to €600k or 4% of turnover made in the Netherlands for companies with a turnover of €15 million or more in the Netherlands

it states a question: where can i play online poker after November 1st?
and the answer is: from October 1st you can play...... So can we play pokerstars in until Novemberst 1st or October 1st??


edit: btw as a dutch players, please continue (and 2+2 please allow) to post links to any website with relevant information