World Cup Marks First Prolonged Drop in Dutch Gambling Self-Exclusion Register

^{Dutch football fans / © Shutterstock}

The Netherlands recorded its first prolonged decline in the number of people listed in the Cruks gambling self-exclusion register during the football World Cup, Casino Nieuws reported.

Between 8 June and 2 July, the figure fell by 212 people, or 0.18%, from 118,550 to 118,338.

After the Dutch national team’s campaign ended, registrations began to rise again. By 9 July, the register included 118,999 people, up 661 from a week earlier.

The decline may have been linked to some users reaching the end of their self-exclusion period and leaving Cruks, while new registrations were not enough to offset those exits. However, the exact reason for the June drop is unclear, as users are not asked why they choose to join or leave the register.

The timing of the decline coincided with the Netherlands’ World Cup campaign.

The team played its opening match on 14 June and was knocked out at the end of the month by Morocco. The match finished 1-1 after normal and extra time, before the Dutch side lost 3-2 on penalties.

Since Cruks was launched in 2021, small declines between individual reporting points had been recorded before, but only over short periods of a few days. During the World Cup, the register fell for several weeks for the first time.

Dutch authorities are currently discussing tougher self-exclusion rules. The minimum exclusion period is now six months, but there are proposals to increase it to 12 months.