Early Sunday morning, a fire broke out at the Holland Casino location in Groningen in the north of the country. While an estimated 150 firefighters were able to gain control over the situation. Holland Casino is a Dutch state-owned company and has the legal monopoly on gambling in the Netherlands, and has fourteen casinos located throughout the country. Profits from Holland Casino go directly to the Dutch treasury. In 2007, profit was around 267 million euros and in 2006 some 263 million euros.
Holland Casino operates a casino gambling monopoly in the Netherlands with 14 sites nationwide that offer over 6,000 slot machines and 420 gaming tables, with the site in Groningen employing 200 people.The fire itself lasted most of Saturday and was so large that most of the cities Old Town was closed as a result with many hotels and residents evacuated from the area. It’s been estimated that damage will amount to millions of Euros.
In a message on the company’s website Holland Casino said: 'Thanks to the amazing efforts of the police and the fire department the incident did not escalate further and nobody was harmed. Unfortunately, we have lost our building. Our initial concerns are for the well-being and safety of our staff, guests and the local residents. Erwin van Lambaart, CEO of Holland Casino, has stated that we will do all we can to return to Groningen. Our short-term plan is to find alternative (temporary) premises in Groningen for our casino, our people and our guests. We will of course keep you informed about the developments.'
Holland Casino is a Dutch state-owned company and has the legal monopoly on gambling in the Netherlands, and has fourteen casinos located throughout the country. Profits from Holland Casino go directly to the Dutch treasury. In 2007, profit was around 267 million euros and in 2006 some 263 million euros.
Casinos[edit]
The headquarters of Holland Casino is located in Hoofddorp, but in the future will move to a separate tower building of the new Holland Casino Utrecht. The first casino opened in Zandvoort on October 1, 1976. Since 2008, the Amsterdam casino is the largest branch. Other branches can be found at:
- Schiphol (Amsterdam Airport)
Games[edit]
In the branches of Holland Casino the following games can be played (not all branches offer all of these games):
Average payment rate was 93% at slot machines, while the legal minimum is 80%. The tables is the average payout ratio 97.7%. All gambling machines are supervised by Dutch Measurement Institute and they are also inspected by the independent inspection company Verispect.
Compulsive gambling[edit]
The company has policies in place to prevent compulsive gambling as much as possible. Holland Casino was presented the Gaming Award for the most socially responsible business in the international casino industry, on January 21, 2008, in London.
Reforms of 2011[edit]
In March 2011, the Dutch coalition government announced a new gambling framework which in 2015 will open the country's online gambling market (including casinos, lotteries, poker, sportsbooks and bingo) to licensed domestic and foreign gaming establishments.[1]
Holland Casino Groningen
References[edit]
Casino Holland Groningen University
- ^Dutch News - Gambling market to be opened up Retrieved on: April 9, 2011
Holland Casino Groningen Restaurant
External links[edit]
Coordinates: 52°21′45″N4°52′56″E / 52.3624°N 4.8823°E