New Curaçao online gambling licence fees confirmed

Each licence will cover an unlimited number of domains.

Curaçao.- The minister of finance Javier Silvania has confirmed the fees for Curaçao’s new online gambling licences. Under the National Ordinance for Games of Chance (LOK), B2B and B2C licences will be separated, although the fees will be similar.

For B2C licences, there will be an ANG9,000 ($5,000) application fee and one-off due diligence fees of between ANG250 and ANG500 per person depending on the person’s role. There will be an annual fee of ANG48,000 and a monthly fee of ANG4,000. Operators must pay ANG500 per year per domain, with no limit on the number of domains.

Operators who hold a licence under the current system of master licences will not have to pay the annual fee in the first year. The monthly fee will be ANG4,000 instead of ANG7,000 from then on.

For B2B licences, the application fee, due diligence fees and annual fee will all be the same as with B2C licences. However, there will be no monthly fee.

Under Curaçao’s current system, there is no division between B2B and B2C licences. There is no application fee, while the annual fee is ANG36,000 and the monthly fee ANG7,000. There is a limit of 40 domains per licence.

New Curaçao gambling licences

The Curaçao Gaming Control Board (GCB) opened its application process for new Curaçao online gambling licences through a dedicated portal at the start of November. The online portal is 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.

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.