The Netherlands: Cruks malfunctions again

The KSA has reported that an error sometimes prevented people from registering on the Dutch self-exclusion system.

The Netherlands.- The Dutch gambling regulator, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has reported that it has detected another malfunction in the country’s gambling self-exclusion system, Cruks. It said that an error was sometimes preventing people from registering and operators from performing checks.

The KSA said the lack of reliability was due to a malfunction in the checks on citizen service numbers (BSNs) used to validate those who register with the system. The BSN is a unique identification number used to process data on residents. The KSA said the problem is in the BSN management facility, not in its own systems.

It advised consumers and operators to check again if receiving an error. It said that a registration or check would often be successful eventually. “We are working hard to resolve this outage,” it added.

The error is the latest in a series of glitches for Cruks, which launched when the Netherlands’ regulated online gambling market opened in October last year.

An error with Cruks caused the launch of the market to be held up by a day. More recently, an error in Cruks’ use of the DigiD identification system made new registrations temporarily impossible in late September. That error didn’t prevent checks and was fixed by September 27.

In August, the KSA said that 20,000 people had registered with Cruks. All operators are required to check player details against the system before allowing them to gamble as set out in Dutch gambling legislation. It said that the system had been consulted more than 148 million times by the end of July.

The KSA investigated complaints from people who had self-excluded but said they were able to enter and play at land-based gaming halls. It reminded operators that sanctions can be applied if they fail to check players against the system.