in engels wegens crosspost met 2+2 topic
I mailed some more questions to the gaming commission. I'll be posting it on multiple fora, so I'm rephrasing a bit to give more information.
Once again I'm surprised by the gaming commission when I got some answers to the most asked questions in the community. It really seems like they know what's needed to make a good legal online poker-landscape.
The most important future for most players, the international playerpool for both tournaments and cashgames has been confirmed as most of you likely know by now.
Pokerstars states they have not received any permission to do so at this giving time. However, pokerstars is still in a test-phase right now, it is very possible the gaming commission is waiting for the final royal orders before they let Pokerstars do so.
At this time it is not known how many legal pokerclients there will be. The possibility of requesting a license began on September first, so it is too soon to say how many request there will come in.
Online sites can co-operate with class A and class E real life licenses (not class B as I stated before). This comes to a total of maximum 9 casino licenses and 180 playhall licenses.
To give us an idea, the gaming commission gives a guesstimate of about 20 online poker sites. At this time, it is way too soon to pin that number down, but it shows that there will be some choice and hopefully competition between the providers.
At this time you can be sure about Pokerstars and Golden palace (ongame). When the royal orders are in place, the sites that requested a license and have the approval of the gaming commission will be able to take Belgian customers.
I'm also happy to announce it will be possible to give out rakeback and/or VIP-bonuses. However the operators are obligated to show their rakeback-system to the gaming commission. They will need to give their approval before this can be active on the site.
For players that are under the age of 21 and have an account on a pokersite I would recommend leaving as little cash as possible on the sites. As soon as the law is in effect your account will be viewed as illegal. Pokerstars will freeze the accounts, giving you only access to the cashier so you can cash out. However, if a site for some reason chooses to seize your funds, there's technically nothing you can do. I don't predict any problems to be honest, most sites will likely approach it like Pokerstars does, but it is better safe than sorry.
The gaming commission is not responsible for taxation of the players, but believes it should be as in real life. Meaning pokerwinnings (or winnings from any casino game for that matter) should be tax-free. If you are a professional pokerplayer you will have to pay income tax. At what point you are viewed as a professional or how much you will have to pay is something you should check with the tax office.
If somebody has an issue with how they are treated by a pokersite, they can go to the website of the gaming commission, or contact them.
I can only hope they realize how many "My aces got cracked again, this is not normal!" they are going to get.
Either way, it looks promising. It took some time, but it seems to be worth it. Let's hope we can say the same thing about our government in a couple of weeks.