The Dutch trade association, VAN, is to fight the new taxation laws on AWP machines through the courts, general secretary Jan Willem Wijsman confirmed to InterGame.

"The new regulations, taken in conjunction with the smoking ban, must have a profound effect on the industry," said Wijsman.

On July 1, 2008, the new tax began to be applied to the coin machine industry’s AWPs. The Netherlands, with 38,500 machines in operation (2006 figures), split as 23,500 in single sites and 15,500 in arcades, now has to pay 29 per cent on the cashbox returns of the machines in tax.

The Dutch Government removed VAT from the machines, but the net effect is to triple the amount which the government takes from the cashbox.

Initially, it was proposed that the taxation should be 40.85 per cent, which led to long discussions between the VAN and politicians from both houses of the Dutch Parliament, which saw the final figure reduced.

It remains, however, a tax that is crippling the business in the Netherlands.

Read more about this in the September edition of InterGame