The gambling regulator in the Netherlands, the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA) has reported that over 20,000 people have registered to self-exclude from gambling with Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen (CRUKs), the self-exclusion system for the country.
CRUKs was launched last October at the same time that the Dutch-regulated online gambling industry was opened. The new regulations under the gambling act outline that both online and land-based operators must refer to CRUKs before any players are allowed to gamble. By the end of July, it is reported that CRUKs had interacted over 148 million times.
The system also allows players to self-exclude themselves voluntarily from online gambling, land-based casinos, and retail slot machine arcades for six months or more. As well as this, family members, partners, and gambling operators can request to add players to this list, which must be approved by the KSA.
The KSA last month released a reminder to gambling operators that gambling is only allowed to be made available to players who hold an active PKI certificate. These certificates are only valid for limited periods and without them, operators are unable to confirm whether or not players have registered with Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen.
In June, the KSA also announced that it had begun to investigate several potential violations of CRUKs from land-based providers. The KSA had reportedly received a significant amount of feedback from players who had used CRUKs to self-exclude but were still able to access gambling with little or no restrictions.