CRUKS is the Dutch register of players excluded from licensed gambling. Its full name, Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen (Central Register for the Exclusion of Games of Chance), describes exactly what it does: one entry blocks you at every licensed operator in the country at once, online and on the ground. It is not a service run by a casino and not a self-help app. It is a legal register kept by the Kansspelautoriteit, the Dutch gambling regulator, and every licence holder is obliged to check it before letting you play.
That single point is what makes CRUKS different from a limit set with one operator. A deposit limit at one site can be worked around by opening an account somewhere else. CRUKS applies to every licensed operator simultaneously, and the check happens before you can play, not afterwards. Below is what the register covers, who it is for, how long an entry lasts, and where the boundary sits with gambling outside the licensed market.
What CRUKS actually contains
CRUKS holds one kind of information: the details of people who are, for a set period, barred from licensed gambling. There is no score in it, no playing history and no amounts. The only question an operator can ask it is whether a given person is listed, yes or no.
Its legal basis is the Remote Gambling Act (Wet kansspelen op afstand), the law that opened the Dutch online market under licence in 2021. Since that law took effect, connection to CRUKS has been a condition of every licence: for online casinos, for arcades, and for Holland Casino. An operator without that connection has no licence, and the reverse holds too — read what a licence covers on the Ksa licence explainer.
Who the register is for
First, for yourself. A voluntary registration is a decision you make alone. You do not need anyone's permission and no operator has a say in it.
There is also a route for relatives and for operators. A partner or another closely involved person can ask the Kansspelautoriteit to register someone involuntarily; an operator that observes risky play can do the same. In both cases the Kansspelautoriteit decides, after a procedure in which the person concerned is heard. That decision is not one an operator can make on its own, and it is not one you can undo yourself before the minimum term has passed.
How you register, in short
Two routes lead to the same exclusion: online at cruksregister.nl with DigiD, or by returning a paper form by post. The paper route exists precisely for people who do not have DigiD, and that is a real gap for an expat who has not yet applied for one, or who does not have a BSN to apply with. The full steps for both routes are set out on how CRUKS registration works.
How long a registration lasts
Six months is the legal minimum, not the standard length. You can choose longer. What a registration does not do is end on its own on the day the chosen period runs out: you have to take action to come out of it. That is not an administrative oversight but a deliberate design. A register that reopened itself automatically would reopen exactly when attention has already lapsed.
Where CRUKS applies, and where it does not
CRUKS applies to every operator holding a Dutch licence: online casinos, online sports betting, arcades and Holland Casino. It does not apply to a site with no Dutch licence, because such a site is not connected to the register at all, and it does not apply to lotteries or scratch cards, which sit outside the register by design.
That distinction matters because it is sometimes marketed the other way round. A site advertising itself as a way to play without CRUKS is not offering a loophole in a Dutch system; it is describing the fact that it was never connected to that system, which is exactly what a Dutch licence would have required.
What an operator sees when it checks
An operator does not get access to the register itself. The check is a single query that returns a yes or no; your name, address or reason for registering are not passed on. The operator does not see how long you have been listed, or who requested the listing.
Why a BSN and DigiD matter here
Registering with CRUKS yourself requires DigiD, and DigiD requires a BSN, the Dutch citizen service number. For an expat who has recently arrived, neither may be in place yet. The counter route at an arcade or Holland Casino, using photo identification instead, exists for that situation as much as for anyone who simply prefers not to do it online.
If you want to come out of it later
A registration can only be ended on your own request, and only once the minimum term has passed. It does not lapse by itself. What that request involves, and what the waiting period between the request and the actual end is for, is set out on cancelling a CRUKS registration.
Getting out takes six months and eight days
The two directions are deliberately asymmetric. Registering takes minutes; leaving takes at least six months and eight days. You can only request an end to your gambling stop once the first six months have passed, and once you do, an eight-day cooling-off period starts. During those eight days nothing changes: you remain in the register and every licensed operator still turns you away.
That period was added to the renewed version of the register for one reason, which the Kansspelautoriteit states plainly: to discourage impulsive deregistration. If you register on 1 March for the minimum period, you can file the request from 1 September and the deregistration becomes final around 9 September.
The duration you pick at the start runs from six months to 99 years. It determines how long the gambling stop continues if you do nothing — not how long you are locked in, because from six months onwards you can always request an end.
Frequently asked questions
Does a CRUKS registration cost anything?
Can I change my mind within the six months?
Will my employer or bank see that I am listed?
What happens to money left in my player account?
Does CRUKS also apply in Belgium or Germany?
Can someone else have me registered?
What is the longest gambling stop I can choose?
How long after my request can I play again?
Sources
- Kansspelautoriteit — Neem een gokstop met Cruks — duur, routes, opzegging en bedenktijd volgens de toezichthouder
- Cruksregister — het officiële portaal van het Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen
- Kansspelautoriteit — toezichthouder op de Nederlandse kansspelmarkt
- Wet op de kansspelen — geconsolideerde wettekst op wetten.overheid.nl
- Loket Kansspel — onafhankelijke hulplijn bij gokproblemen, 0800 24 000 22
