Dutch regulator issues €45,000 fine to Merkur for Cruks violation

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Merkur Casino Almere has become the latest group to fall foul of the Dutch gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit, after receiving a fine of €45,000.

This comes after the casino was found to have failed to comply with statutory audit obligations after giving access to an individual that was registered with the Central Register of Exclusion of Games of Chance (Cruks).

Gambling providers with a licence in the Netherlands are compelled to check whether players are listed in Cruks, and ensure that those that are cannot access such facilities. 

However, in the instance, between February 17, 2022, and March 2, 2022, the person in question managed to gain access to Merkur Casino’s Almere location nine times despite being registered.

“When checking the data in Cruks of the person in question, employees of the casino received an error message and were therefore unable to verify whether the person was registered in the register,” the regulator noted. 

“On that basis, the person should have been denied access to the casino. Because the casino failed to do so nine times within the aforementioned period, the Gaming Authority has imposed a fine of €45,000.”

Already this year, the Ksa has been on something of a regulatory rampage after issuing a slew of sanctions, which includes handing out penalties of €900,000 to Shark77, €400,000 to Joi Gaming, €350,000 to Bingoal and €900,000 each to Equinox Dynamic from Curaçao and Slovakia’s Domiseda and Partners.

Furthermore, a total of €26m in penalties was handed down to N1 Interactive (€12.64m), Videoslots (€9.87m), Betpoint Group (€1.78m), Probe Investments (€1.12m) and Fairload (€900,000), as part of a total package of €26m.

During March the Ksa also voiced an intention to collect a €4.41m penalty payment from Gammix after an appeal to the sanction was rejected, with Hillside New Media Malta, bet365’s Malta-based operating company, fined €400,000 and a fine of €675,000 fine issued to Red Ridge Marketing.

Last month saw a cease and desist order issued to Winning Poker Network, while Entain owned BetEnt was fined €400,000 for advertising violation.