The Dutch Gambling Authority, Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), has updated the Netherlands’ self-exclusion scheme CRUKS.
Thanks to the improvements, measures around the processing and control of personal data will tighten.
According to the regulator, some problems that could have been previously experienced with CRUKS include missing names or birth dates from ID documents, which the scheme’s new API has now fixed.
Gambling providers are obligated to frequently cross-check with the register to prevent players who have signed up to it from gambling.
Currently, there are around 75,000 players who have excluded themselves from gambling through CRUKS.
Diving deeper into the topic of gambling in the Netherlands, a new research revealed that the majority of gambling-affected persons are Dutch men (88%) between the ages of 25 and 55 (75%).
More people are also turning to professional help, with 46% of problem gamblers being admitted to treatment centres for the first time.
Overall, gambling currently remains fifth in the list of harmful consumer behaviours with 3.8%, preceded by opiate abuse (11.8%), cocaine (12.3%), cannabis (15.3%), and alcohol (44.9%).
In fact, 44% of those affected by problem gambling are also suffering from alcoholism as an underlying secondary disorder.
But, change is coming, with the newly-formed Dutch cabinet under PM Dick Schoof set to implement better safeguards around player protection thanks to a list of reforms carried over from the previous government and former Legal Protections Minister, Franc Weerwind.