Dutch regulator to investigate potential self-exclusion violations

In recent months, KSA said it had received a number of reports from players who had self-excluded through Cruks but were still able to access slot halls.

Some players reported being able to access the venues without any restrictions, while others said their registration with Cruks was ignored.

Licensed operators in the Netherlands are required to check if a player is signed up to Cruks before allowing them to gamble. The KSA said that if it identifies any violations of such rules, it could impose sanctions.

“Failure to check players or ignore a Cruks registration is very serious,” KSA said. “These players registered with Cruks precisely because they have problems with gambling and are no longer in control.”

Launched in October last year, Cruks allows player to self-exclude from gambling, while they can also be referred to the scheme by friends and family concerned about their behaviour or an operator that has flagged potential gambling related harm.

KSA in December urged licensed operators to carry out checks of their customer bases to ensure no players are signed up to Cruks after identifying an error with the scheme.

The regulator said the error, which was rectified, may have been down to inaccuracies when signing up to Cruks, such as a consumer inputting their citizen service number (BSN), name or date of birth incorrectly.

The error may have impacted players who registered for new igaming accounts between 2 and 20 October.