little to no rakeback is an option, so gg isnt the only option. You can play hc & bet365 and simply beat those games
and with some creativity you can play many more sites even though they are illegal, its not like the dutch government is capable in any way shape or form

From now i only play on pokerstars.

GGpoker.de is not offering deposits anymore from bacnkaccounts outside Germany

but stars not available (yet) for dutch players

I think in the Netherlands pokerstars will be back on 1st october

where did you read that?

How come pokerstars hasn't entered the Dutch market yet? The cooling off period is done by now (as unibet has entered the market) so that must mean they messed up in the application process. Or could this be a more strategic decision?

the dutch do like to play poker (and always preferred stars over gg in general) so it is quite a significant market, i dont know how it could be strategic for stars to make them wait

So it must be that they messed up the application process? Seems strange for such a large and reputable company as Pokerstars, right?

i rather think the problem lies with the dutch government, pokerstars expressed before that they regret being forced to leave the dutch market & would apply for license asap

it seems the are bullying stars because for many years they didnt listen at all (unlike gg they kept being active on dutch market, including dutch payment options & dutch support) to requests from the government. Thats why got a longer cooling-off period from which I read that an estimated date of return would be Q3. This date wasnt set in stone and might differ for several unrelated sites.
Q3 just started, but it was an estimation anyway, so the government is obviously not rushing to get pokerstars back.
Especially since it is legal to play poker on Holland Casino and GG (which is based in curacao, part of the "kingdom of the netherlands").
Most dutch poker players always expressed a preference for pokerstars, so allowing them back quickly would mean a lot of lost income for the public exchequer

I understood that the cooling off period is similar for all websites, and ended Juli 1 hence the entry of Unibet in the market. If that is the case, Pokerstars is massively messing up.

its not the case

today it was announced that betsson applied for a license
awfully quiet with stars

can't be far off now

lets hope so

Even though it's true that you can likely do this whilst staying undetected, what the hell are you gonna say when you use a chunk of the money you've made for a downpayment on a house or something like that? At that point you need a viable explanation where you've got that money from and you wouldn't be able to provide one.

maybe dont use it for that
or go to the holland casino, a legal form of laundering used by many

Q3 is ending and still no updates? This **** is super annoying.

I moved back to Netherlands in June, because I expected PokerStars to return soon. I guess I have to move abroad again. ��

indeed, the silence is quite frustrating

edit: although end of q3 is still 50 days away

End of Q3 is end of September, right? So 21 days left. They better be quick!

my bad, brain not waken up.

i hope they speed things up too, but the way things are going i would sign for this year

Lol, fair. Seems all a bit risky, I guess I'm too much of a square for that.

What's the situation like atm? Any sites that offer a basic rakeback program, or are we still getting fisted by our government?

still a big giant fist up our asses
gg offers some rakeback, not much if youre a winning a player, but you also pay a lot more rake
q3 almost to an end and no stars is a big disappointment although i read and see that stars has deteriorated a lot more since a year ago

Cheers for the quick message back. That fist pushing through and turning sideways and back is getting a bit tiring. For a country as liberal as ours, it's pretty disgusting that we have to deal with a cut in our income like this, all because the government wants to protect some people that, if they were gambling addicts, could just study up on the game and make a living, like every other gambling addict that stays in poker for half his life.

well, gambling addicts can go everywhere
everywhere but stars

but the government is cashing in big now so they arent in a hurry with stars

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/2...index1181.html
Crosspost from Unibet (Unibet reps are arguing rakeback may not be possible due to legislation)

Read the whole page and few back for more

-----------------
Reply Unibet rep:

Originally Posted by Stubbe-Unibet
It's not as simple as you make it sound

What hollandcasino have done is nothing like rakeback or loyalty. We have done mission style promotions as well. The HC poker boost is capped at €250 and set at less than 15%. To a NL200-400 player it makes no difference (you'll be paying less rake with us, even when the promo is active). We might do something similar in the future, with the mission mechanic

I'm no lawyer and can't comment on this in an official capacity. However, looking at article 2.6, it seems somewhat clear that loyalty is specifically forbidden:
Ook spaarprogrammaÂ’s zelf die zijn gekoppeld aan de deelname van een spel, zetten aan tot doorspelen. Deze programmaÂ’s zijn daarom niet verantwoord als zij gekoppeld zijn aan een kansspel met een hoog risicopotentieel.

Furthermore, there's a long list of restrictions here: https://kansspelautoriteit.nl/voor-z...isen-bonussen/, as I'm sure you know.

There's of course a reason no one in NL is offering loyalty to the players, apart from GG - hint: Unibet being greedy is not the reason Bet365 and Hollandcasino don't offer loyalty.

I of course agree it looks a bit odd with the current GG offering and I'm personally confused how it's been offered for so long without any issues. I guess it's possible that poker is somehow not meant to be affected by the restrictions set forth by the regulator, but that's not a gamble we can make.
Until we're completely sure that our loyalty system would be compliant - if GG's is, ours should be - we won't be switching it on.

NB Sweden, Belgium and Netherlands don't have loyalty. Denmark got a special setup.


Reply by me:
Rakeback or flat rakeback, essentially giving back a tiny fee to a player that uses your website shouldn't have to be defined as a "spaarprogrogramma". Its just a cost reduction for loyal customers (the people that play more because they utilize a winning strategy long term). Paying back these fees won't be of much significance to an already losing poker player, and certainly not be the main drive for them to play more. You're misapplying the legislation for what/who it's meant for, which is why gg is right to allow for cashback.

You, in fact, could argue your missions in it's current form which are offered to Dutch players, are much more incentivizing to keep on playing. And even playing while being out of your comfort zone (different types of games players may not have the skillset for/familiar with), just to unlock tickets which increase in value the more games are played. How is this in accordance to the legislation and rakeback is not?

The legislation is simply allowing for loyalty programs...
quote "Als aanbieder van kansspelen mag u bonussen aanbieden aan spelers. Bonussen (ook spaar- en loyaliteitsprogramma's vallen hieronder) zijn een reclameactiviteit. Dit betekent dat de algemene regels ten aanzien van reclame- en wervingsactiviteiten(verwijst naar een andere website) ook op bonussen van toepassing zijn."

https://kansspelautoriteit.nl/voor-z...isen-bonussen/