Curaçao Gaming Control Board begins taking new licence applications
The regulator has begun accepting applications through its online portal.
Curaçao.- The Curaçao Gaming Control Board (GCB) has opened its application process for new Curaçao online gambling licences through a dedicated portal. The online portal has begun accepting registrations from new applicants and existing sub-licensees.
The portal went online on September 1 with information and licence application forms but it was not possible to register. Registrations can now be made by new applicants and by the jurisdiction’s current sub-licensees, who will need to reapply in order to continue operating under a new framework to be introduced under the National Ordinance for Games of Chance (LOK). Under LOK, the new Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) will take over regulatory duties.
Verified accounts registered on the online portal can submit applications from November 15, allowing 15 days for account verification. To be verified, accounts need to be registered under the name of a Curaçao company, must have a unique email address attached to the company and must present a letter of authorisation signed by the company’s Ultimate Beneficial Owner. The GCB will verify the details before a completed application can be submitted. Successful applicants will be given six months to submit further documentation.
Curaçao’s finance minister Javier Silvania said: “The first of November 2023 will be noted as a momentous day in the history of Curaçao’s position as a gambling jurisdiction. This day was the tipping point of a very lengthy process of revolutionising the country’s gambling landscape.”
Silvania has warned that Curaçao’s new gambling legislation is vital to help prevent the Dutch Caribbean island from being grey-listed for AML concerns. Giving the opening address at the SiGMA Curaçao, he said he understood some operators’ fears about of change but stressed that the objective was not to disrupt. The current application process is intended to provide a transition to a new licensing system to allow operators currently licensed under the system of master licences to remain in operation.
