Zona de Azar The Netherlands – Dutch CRUKS Registers 20,000 Self-Excluded Players

The Netherlands.- 4th August 2022 www.zonadeazar.com Dutch gambling’s Central Register of Exclusion of Gaming (CRUKS) has registered over 20,000 users since its launch on 1 October 2021.

The figure was disclosed by Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), the Netherlands gambling regulator, which provided a market update on the Dutch market’s safer gambling initiatives.

Under the laws of Dutch gambling’s KOA Act, CRUKS is managed as a mandatory system that requires all licensed operators to centralise their customer databases with.

KSA rules dictate that “slot machine arcades, Holland Casino branches and online gambling operators should consult CRUKS before allowing a player to gamble. If someone is on the registry, access will be denied.”

The launch of CRUKS coincided with the government formally legalising the Netherlands online gambling marketplace on 1 October – allowing vulnerable players to self-exclude from all gambling activities (retail + online) for a minimum of 6 months to an indefinite period should they choose to.

Updating stakeholders, KSA informed that since CRUKS launch, its registry had been “consulted more than 148 million times”.

KSA has stated that it continues to monitor CRUKS development and terms for self-exclusion in order to “ tighten the requirements in the field of addiction prevention.”

CRUKS is a unique self-exclusion system amongst European jurisdictions as it allows for partners, family members and close associates to register a player for “involuntary self-exclusion”.

“It is necessary that an interested party, for example a partner, family member or gambling provider, submits a request to KSA. After a careful procedure, KSA will make a decision on self-exclusion.,” KSA rules state.

Wider market developments see Dutch stakeholders await for new Legal Protections Minister Franc Weerwind to publish the ‘Addiction Prevention Decree’ recommendations.

Though positive on the Dutch market’s initial safeguards, Weerwind has previously expressed concerns on the increased participation of young adults (18-to-24) in online gambling following KOA’s launch.

Licensed operators have been warned that upcoming regulatory reforms will focus on improving advertising standards and implementing new measures/duties to minimise gambling addiction.

Edited by: @MaiaDigital www.zonadeazar.com