Dutch MP sees gambling self exclusion tool as model for financial sector
Don Ceder says the Cruks model could be adapted to non-gambling areas.
The Netherlands.- A Dutch MP has hailed the country’s gambling self-exclusion platform, Cruks, as a model of effectiveness that could be adapted to other sectors. Don Ceder of ChristenUnie has presented a motion suggesting that Cruks could be used as a model for similar tools covering consumer finances.
Cruks was launched in October 2021 coinciding with the opening of the regulated online gambling market in the Netherlands. It has been expanded to cover land-based gambling as well as online gambling. Despite several outages over the years, including one that delayed the launch of regulated online gambling by a day, the system has been widely praised.
Ceder believes a similar system could be used to help prevent indebtedness from credit, loans and instalment payments (BNPL). Teun Struycken, who has responsibility for gambling as State Secretary for Legal Protections, has rejected the motion for now, saying that the priority is to adopt the revised European Consumer Credit Directive (CCD II). But he has asked Ceder to re-formulate his proposal to give the government an advisory role rather than responsibility for creating the register. This would come down to the financial sector itself.
The Netherlands is one of several European Union countries that have asked BNPL providers to pull back from expanding into physical retail locations until consumer protection guidelines have been drawn up. There are concerns about the rapid growth of this credit option, with some critics suggesting that the lack of regulatory clarity is leading to overlending.
KSA warning over new affordability checks
Meanwhile, the KSA issued a general warning to operators this week after observing poor practices during its monitoring of new affordability checks. With the introduction of new deposit limits for online gambling in the Netherlands in October, operators must now conduct affordability checks on all players who want to deposit more than €700 a month (€300 a month for under 25s). The limits apply for each calendar month, and operators must request documents that provide proof of income. However, the KSA said that some operators’ approaches have been insufficient.
