This has had a negative effect on the industry, and this has been compounded by a smoking ban that came into force in the summer of last year. Also on 1 July 2008 a new taxation system was introduced. The VAT system was replaced with a gambling tax (29% of the cashbox).

The VAT system has effectively tripled the tax burden on operators and has decimated the industry, leading to redundancies and a lack of new investment. The government has since promised to make amends to the industry by easing the tax burden but nothing has come to fruition as yet.

The market analyst KPMG estimates that the combined effect of the increased taxation and the smoking ban on the industry has led to a decrease in turnover of 16 per cent in arcades and around 32 per cent in single sites. The net turnover decreased even more; 29 % in arcades and 47 % in single sites.

On the online gaming front, Betfair’s decision to bring the Dutch government to court due to its attempt to introduce an online payment ban has drawn the attention of EU Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, Charlie McCreevy. The European Commission will be investigating the actions of the Dutch government. Commissioner McCreevy said: “We announced last year that at least 10 member states were in contravention of internal market rules on gambling. There has been no progress at all.”

According to a letter from the European Commission, the Dutch state monopoly on sports betting is illegal and infringes upon EU law. This letter has been kept from the public for over a year, due to attempts by the government to maintain the monopoly in order to combat problem gambling and criminal activities.

Data supplied by the VAN trade association

• Number of AWPs in single sites: 22,453
• Number of AWPs in arcades:
• single player: 14,442
• multi player: 1,062
• Number of arcades: 273
• Number of single sites: 16.900

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