Curaçao Gaming Control Board names Hilary Stewart-Jones as advisor

The solicitor will advise Curaçao’s new gambling regulator.

Curaçao.- The Curaçao Gaming Control Board (GCB) has announced that Hilary Stewart-Jones has joined the new regulator as an advisor. The solicitor is an independent consultant at the gambling law firm Harris Hagan. She is also chair and CEO of the software provider, Skywind Group.

Stewart-Jones has 30 years of experience in the sector. She started her career in legal at Ladbrokes and has served as a non-executive director at Paysafe Group.

She said: “I am thrilled to be joining the Gaming Control Board team at such a pivotal moment. It’s an honour to be part of the monumental change that is the revitalising of Curaçao as a world-class player in the global gambling arena.”

Curaçao is to introduce major changes to gambling regulation with the implementation of the new National Ordinance for Games of Chance (LOK), which follows pressure from The Netherlands. It has begun a transition period under which existing licensees must apply to retain their Curaçao online gambling licences under the new system.

Application forms, which are available via an online portal, can be submitted from November 15. Operators that are accepted will receive a provisional licence subject to the provision of audited policies and procedures within six months of issuance. They will have no need to re-apply under the LOK since they will be transferred to the new regulator.

LOK adds to the existing National Ordinance on Offshore Games of Hazard, changing how foreign online gambling operators are licensed. It is intended to introduce higher licensing standards amid international pressure.

It will replace the current system of “master licences“. These are held by four private businesses, which can each provide licences to operators. The regime has been criticised for its ease of access and little scrutiny, something that the Netherlands, in particular, has been keen to change. Under the LOK, sub-licensees will have three months to submit an application to the GCB for a direct operator licence.

The Dutch government has been keeping a careful eye on the Caribbean island’s reforms to its igaming licensing due to the number of operators targeting European markets without local licences. It had cited reforms to gambling licensing laws as a condition for state aid during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new legislation will introduce tougher money laundering controls and licensees will need to have a minimum of three employees in “key positions” on the island. There has been speculation that the tightening of restrictions may lead some operators to leave the jurisdiction.