Illegal online casinos ran hundreds of Facebook and Instagram ads directly targeting people registered on the Netherlands’ gambling self-exclusion register, according to an investigation by Dutch broadcaster BNR.
The register, Cruks (Centraal Register Uitsluiting Kansspelen), blocks a person from every licensed Dutch operator for a minimum of six months once they sign up. Around 100,000 people were registered as of early 2026.
Ads built to dodge a ban
BNR found the ads with a basic search for “CRUKS” in Meta’s public Ads Library. Hundreds turned up, posted between late 2025 and the first half of 2026, many built around AI-generated people rather than real actors or footage. The ads promoted foreign, unlicensed casinos and told visitors those sites do not check the Cruks register. Some framed Cruks itself as government interference with personal freedom, rather than a protection measure someone had opted into.
Two accounts behind the campaigns were identified by name: “Zonder Cruks” (“Without Cruks”) and “Betrouwbare Spelsites” (“Reliable gambling sites”). Both pushed users toward casino ranking websites listing operators that sit outside Dutch licensing.
Meta pulled the ads after being contacted
Meta removed the ads and banned the accounts once BNR raised its findings. The company said its advertising rules require compliance with applicable laws and that it takes enforcement of those rules seriously, but it did not explain how the ads ran undetected for months despite being findable through a single keyword search on its own ad library.
A list of people who asked to stop
Addiction specialists who reviewed BNR’s findings said the targeting is not incidental. Cruks registration is voluntary or court-imposed, and it exists specifically to give people a way to remove themselves from a market they cannot safely use.
“They are vulnerable people. They are registered in Cruks out of self-protection, or to protect others. This way, they might start gambling again on impulse or due to their addiction or problems.”
Gea-marit Dekker, of the Trimbos Institute, the Netherlands’ national centre of expertise on mental health and addiction, made that point about the population the ads reached. Judith Noijen, of the addiction care organisation Jellinek, called the campaigns “very concerning,” noting that stress and loneliness can weaken self-control at exactly the moments these ads are designed to catch someone scrolling.
Outside the licence perimeter
The Netherlands opened its regulated online gambling market in 2021 under the Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), which requires every licensed operator to check new customers against Cruks before letting them play. The sites advertised in BNR’s investigation are not licensed in the Netherlands, so that check never happens. The ban has full force against Dutch-licensed brands and none at all against the foreign sites the ads were selling.
Unlicensed marketing reaching Dutch consumers is not an isolated problem for European regulators. Romania’s gambling authority, ONJN, blacklisted nearly 800 illegal gambling sites this month, part of a broader pattern of regulators chasing operators that advertise and take players from outside their licensing reach.
What Cruks cannot reach
BNR’s investigation exposes the gap in a system built around one country’s licence perimeter: Cruks can shut a person out of every operator the KSA regulates, but it has no authority over a Meta ad auction or an offshore casino’s sign-up page. Meta’s removals came only after a broadcaster went looking with a single search term, which leaves open how much of this traffic runs unchecked between now and the next time someone checks. Whether Dutch regulators press Meta for a standing filter on gambling-adjacent ad content, rather than relying on press inquiries to trigger takedowns, will decide whether Cruks registrants get any real protection online.
Source: BNR
