Poker has become increasingly popular in The Netherlands since the start of the 21st Century; especially the variant Texas Hold’em is being played a lot these days. Due to the success of poker the question has risen whether or not poker is a form of gambling or a so called game of skill. Dutch legislation is still in doubt whether to acknowledge poker as a game of skill making it illegal to play poker online or organize live poker events. The only organization that is allowed to hold poker events in The Netherlands is Holland Casino.
At Sunday 6 May the Spring Championship of Online Poker (SCOOP) will start. In the SCOOP of 2011 $63,802,405 prize money was awarded to all the players. In comparison the World Championships of online Poker (WCOOP)had a total prize pool of $47,120,800. The SCOOP can there for safely be called the biggest online poker championship in the world!
In our opinion poker has clearly proven to be a game of skill, because the same people end up winning again and again. The International Mind Sports Association (ISMA) acknowledged poker to be a game of skill and allowed the International Federation of Poker (IFP) to be a part of their association, also containing the likes of Chess, Bridge, Draughts and Go.
However, we are happy to see that poker sites have been able to establish ways in which Dutch inhabitants are still able to play online poker. The Dutch government does tolerate some online poker as long as you are honest filling in your taxes. That is why we hope poker will grown as a sport so the Dutch government won’t stop everything.
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