The KSA brought in Cruks to help players monitor their gambling habits and get help if needed. The renewed website (cruksregister.nl) aims to make it easier to set a (temporary) gambling stop, and a reflection period has been added for players who want to unsubscribe after their gambling halt.

This gambling stop is for a minimum period of six months, but can also be set for longer, and applies to arcades and casinos as well as online games of chance. Players who opt for a gambling stop for longer than six months can unsubscribe at any time after the first six months; whereas in the previous version of Cruks, this was possible instantaneously with the click of a button.

The KSA said a reflection period of eight days has also been added to the new version to prevent impulsive unsubscriptions.

The Remote Gambling Act (Wet Kansspelen op afstand, Koa), its subordinate legislation and policy rules came into force on 1 April 2021. The Gambling Act stipulates that there must be a central database with players who are denied access to high-risk games of chance. The Cruks register was set up by the KSA and has been active since 1 October 2021, corresponding with the opening of the country’s legal iGaming market.

Licensed games of chance providers in the Netherlands can check whether users are in the Cruks scheme, and thus have to ensure that those who have self-excluded cannot gamble in the Netherlands or from overseas using Dutch providers.

Since going live, more than 38,000 players in the Netherlands have signed up to the scheme.