Due to a technical malfunction of the Central Register of Exclusion of Chances (Cruks), it is not possible for online providers, such as Holland Casino and Toto, to allow players on their websites. Anyone who wants to take a gamble on Friday had to move to one of the branches. The Cruks outage has no consequences for the supply of country-specific providers (gaming halls and the Holland Casino casinos). These can start on Monday with the Cruks check.
problems with government software
The Ministry of Security and Justice is responsible for policy in the area of games of chance. The Gaming Authority supports the Ministry in making policy in various ways by providing solicited and unsolicited advice.
In the meantime, Holland Casino itself also issued a statement. Due to the late go-live and instability at the Central Register Exclusion of Chances (Cruks) and the resulting technical complications for its systems, Holland Casino has decided to postpone its online offer until Monday evening, October 4, 2021. With this, the casino company wants players to avoid the annoying experience saving from long waiting times and problems with registration and verification, which have now arisen with various other providers.
Unfortunately, the instability at Cruks and the insufficient testing of the systems make it impossible to deliver the desired high quality and reliability online that guests and players rightly expect from Holland Casino. In addition, players cannot yet register for the central exclusion register (Cruks), which affects the reliability of the offer. The casino company therefore chooses to postpone the go-live to Monday evening in the interests of quality and reliability.
HIT' or 'NO HIT'
Companies with a gaming machine hall or gaming casino license must connect to Cruks in order to keep their license. Online games of chance providers that apply for a license for the Dutch market need a working and tested connection with their license application. The Cruksregister should soon be available 24 hours, 7 days a week. As a gambling provider, you need a code to check the player in Cruks. That is why the provider sends a number of personal data to the Gaming Authority the first time a player plays: citizen service number, name and date of birth. This Cruks code returns the system with a 'HIT' or 'NO HIT', if the player is in the Cruks register or not.
It was announced with media coverage days in advance that 10 companies could officially offer online gambling from October 1, 2021. From October 1, the online gambling market has been opened to legal providers, but they were not able to welcome online players on Friday. This concerns companies such as TOTO, Holland Casino and Bingoal. A spokesperson said it was a technical malfunction, but precise details have not been released. Still, they worked all night to get the system up and running. According to KSA, there was no question of a DDoS attack. Although the system had been extensively tested in advance, according to the Ksa, something went wrong when it went live on Friday.
penalty box
The board chairman of the Ksa said he expects more license holders to be added in the short term, because a group of companies is still going to submit an application. Jansen expects that around July 2022 there will be a complete picture of what the online gambling market in the Netherlands will look like. Now that the new online gambling rules have come into effect in the Netherlands, providers such as Unibet, PokerStars and bwin have informed their Dutch customers that they will stop offering their games to Dutch players for the time being. The companies have not received a permit and are now on the penalty bench for at least 6 months. The main reason is that they were allowed to gamble legally, illegally targeting Dutch consumers via various websites from abroad.
Also read: Trip to Holland Casino soon digital
