A Dutch court has cut Casino Zoetermeer’s fine to €21,500 from €25,000, but it upheld the regulator’s finding that the venue broke the rules by admitting two people who were already listed in Cruks, the national gambling exclusion register. The reduction reflected the court’s view that the enforcement process took longer than a reasonable period.
The case began in 2022 after reports raised concerns about identity checks at the gaming hall. Investigators found that both visitors were registered in Cruks when Casino Zoetermeer let them enter and gamble.
Casino Zoetermeer challenged the decision and sought urgent judicial protection to delay publication of the sanction, but those efforts failed. The court dismissed the substantive appeal arguments, leaving the KSA’s conclusions unchanged.
Cruks, the Central Register for Exclusion from Gambling, sits at the centre of the Dutch responsible gambling system. Licensed online casinos, land-based casinos and gaming halls must identify customers and check the register before allowing access, while voluntary exclusions last at least six months and operators must refuse entry or block gambling accounts during that period.
KSA figures cited in the reporting put the register at about 118,000 people, almost twice the 60,902 recorded at the end of 2023. A 2024 government-commissioned review found Cruks broadly effective at stopping registered players from gambling, but it also said involuntary registrations were slow and administratively heavy, with assessments taking three to four months on average, and that some land-based gambling products still fell outside the system.
The Zoetermeer case also came amid a broader tightening of enforcement in the Dutch market. Recent actions cited in the reporting included a €400,000 fine for Unibet over a Cruks-related failure, a warning to Betnation for missed exclusion checks, fines of €886,000 and €500,000 for 711 and LeoVegas, and a €3 million penalty for Chestoption for unlicensed gambling.
The regulator has also moved against advertising breaches. It ordered TonyBet to withdraw a World Cup campaign that used imagery closely resembling well-known footballers, saying Dutch rules bar gambling companies from using role models or recognisable sporting figures in promotions, and no fine was announced.
