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The Dutch parliament voted down a bill that would have allowed casino operator Holland Casino open a gambling Web site on a trails basis.

The bill was defeated in a close 35-37 vote on Tuesday. The bill passed the lower house of parliament in 2006. It was the upper house that rejected the bill this time. Passage of the bill would have allowed Holland's gambling monopoly, Holland Casino to have a three-year trial period to operate a monopoly gambling Web site.

If the bill had passed it would have helped protect Dutch gamblers, estimated at about 400,000, and allowed competition with international companies operating gambling sites, such as PartyGaming, Bwin and Sportingbet.

Other countries in Europe that have been reluctant to open up online gambling include Germany and France who are concerned about gambling addiction and the state betting monopolies losing revenue.

The European Commission has warned Holland for its gambling laws. Along with Greece, it was issued a final warning in February by the EU that action would be taken against it for restricting competition.