Dutch Casino Zoetermeer Fined for Admitting Excluded Gamblers
Jacob Mitchell 
Key Takeaways:
- Netherlands Gambling Authority fined Casino Zoetermeer €25,000.
- Fine was for admitting two self-excluded customers from Cruks.
- Court reduced the fine to €21,500 due to enforcement process length.
- KSA rejected casino objections; court dismissed substantive appeal arguments.
- Cruks register now includes approximately 118,000 individuals.
The Netherlands Gambling Authority (KSA) has penalised Casino Zoetermeer after two self-excluded customers entered its gaming hall and gambled. The regulator initially imposed a €25,000 fine following an investigation opened in 2022. A court later reduced the penalty to €21,500 because the enforcement process exceeded a reasonable period.
Regulatory Action and Enforcement
Publication of the fine had been delayed after the casino sought urgent judicial protection. The KSA rejected its objections, and the court subsequently dismissed the substantive appeal arguments, highlighting the strictness of Dutch gambling regulation. The case arose from reports by two individuals who questioned the venue’s identity controls. Investigators found both were registered with Cruks when Casino Zoetermeer admitted them.
The KSA has dealt with comparable failures before. Unibet received a €400,000 Cruks-related fine in December 2024, while Betnation received a warning in June after missing checks for several customers. Recent enforcement has also extended beyond Cruks, with the regulator fining 711 €886,000 and LeoVegas €500,000 over duty-of-care failures. Additionally, Chestoption received a €3 million penalty for unlicensed gambling operations.
Cruks System and Player Protection
Cruks, formally the Central Register for Exclusion from Gambling, covers licensed online casinos, gaming halls, and casinos. Operators must identify customers, verify their identities, and check the register before allowing play. A voluntary gambling stop lasts at least six months, throughout which period covered operators must refuse access. The system's purpose is to ensure a registered player should not gain access, with its protection resting on checks made at each entrance or login.
The register now contains around 118,000 people, according to KSA data, nearly twice the 60,902 recorded in December 2023. A 2024 government-commissioned evaluation found Cruks effective at excluding registered players from licensed gambling. However, it rated the wider operation only partly sufficient. Involuntary registrations remained slow and administratively heavy, and the review also noted that Cruks does not cover every land-based gambling product. Of 76 operator referrals processed in 2023, 42 ended in compulsory registration, and another 26 people entered voluntarily. Even so, assessments averaged three to four months, against a minimum exclusion term of six months. KSA chairman Michel Groothuizen recently called for anyone under curatorship to be added to Cruks, even if they have no gambling history.
Additional Regulatory Compliance
Separately from the Casino Zoetermeer fine, the KSA challenged TonyBet over an advertisement used during the football World Cup. The advertisement showed people whose national shirts, squad numbers, and appearance clearly evoked prominent international footballers. Dutch rules prohibit gambling companies from using role models, including recognisable references that stop short of naming the person, a common restriction across many global online gambling markets. The regulator ordered TonyBet to remove the material immediately and prevent its return. TonyBet complied, and no fine was announced for this specific incident.
