The Dutch Gaming Authority (KSA) has continued its strong compliance focus, this time taking aim at Betnation for failures related to the Cruks self-exclusion system.
The KSA issued Smart Gaming, the operator of Betnation, an official warning after it failed to verify whether a group of players were on the Cruks exclusion register between January and March 2026.
As a result, these players were able to gamble without being checked, including one who had previously self-excluded.
The regulator said in a statement: “The KSA considers it highly reprehensible that the Cruks checks were not carried out. Players who register themselves in Cruks do so to protect themselves and must be able to assume that, as a result, they cannot gamble at licensed providers.”
Betnation attributed the failure to a ‘technical error’ which meant the checks were not performed.
The operator said that it manually checked the players affected. However, it was unable to determine whether a small group of players were on the register during the impacted time period.
KSA noted that Betnation reported the incident to the regulator and took measures to remedy the problem, including financially compensating the impacted players. Betnation also said that it would work with responsible gambling organisations to provide further assistance to the players.
Given this action, the KSA deemed that a warning was sufficient in this instance.
711 and TOTO in the crosshairs
Betnation is not the only operator to feel the wrath of the KSA in June.
Earlier this week, the regulator called out TOTO Online for its use of role models in a World Cup advertising campaign after eight football clubs promoted a competition to win signed football shirts if they placed a €5 bet on TOTO Online.
Although TOTO believed that the advert was compliant, the regulator viewed this as using role models for promotional purposes, which is not permitted, since former professional footballers were being used in advertising.
Meanwhile, 711 Group was hit with fines totalling almost €900,000 for duty of care violations following an investigation into the operator’s actions between February 2022 and June 2024.
The KSA said that players’ behaviour wasn’t properly analysed by 711 and appropriate intervening measures weren’t taken, leaving players’ gambling behaviour open to getting out of control and potentially causing significant losses.
In a statement to iGaming Expert, Tom De Backer, Group Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, reiterated that 711 has always operated within the legal framework that was in place at the time in the Dutch iGaming market and will be exploring its next steps as a result of the KSA fine.
