Merkur Casino has been fined €45,000 (£39,589/$49,763) by the Netherlands’ gaming regulator, de Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), for permitting a self-excluded player to access its casino premises in the municipality of Almere.
According to KSA, the self-excluded player, who was registered with the Netherlands’ self-exclusion register Cruks, was able to enter Merkur Casino nine times between 17 February 2022 and 2 March 2022.
This violates article 30, paragraph 1.b of the Netherlands’ gaming law, KOA.
When the casino staff attempted to check the player’s self-exclusion status, they encountered an error message that prevented them from verifying whether the player was registered with Cruks. On 23 March, the player wrote to the regulator to report that they had been able to enter Merkur Casino in Almere despite being registered with Cruks. The following day, KSA initiated an investigation into the matter after contacting the player for more information.
During the investigation, it was discovered that the player had enrolled in Cruks on 16 October 2021 for a year-long self-exclusion period, which was scheduled to expire on 15 October 2022.
KSA imposed a €45,000 fine on Merkur at the end of its investigation. Merkur was given the chance to object to the publication of the penalty on 24 November 2022. Although Merkur contested the decision on 11 January 2023, the sanction was ultimately made public. An appeal can be made against the fine. In related news, KSA recently launched an improved version of Cruks, which simplifies the process of temporarily self-excluding for players.
