Curacao gaming licence

Curacao gaming licences may only be issued to companies incorporated in Curacao. The first step is therefore to register a company in Curacao. The company must have a local registered office and appoint at least one director who is resident in Curacao. Netstorm Consulting will take care of the formalities in registering your company, ensuring that it complies with all the requirements for the licence.

After the company has been set up, we will prepare the gaming licence application. This will entail preparing a business plan, containing financial projections and detailing the company’s intended activities and target markets. A policy manual will need to be prepared, with particular attention to be paid to the topics of anti-money laundering, responsible gaming and fair play. The company will also be required to submit detailed information about its directors, shareholders, beneficial owners and other key persons for compliance purposes.

The application is submitted to the Curacao Gaming Control Board (CGCB). At this stage, the licence application fee needs to be paid.

The Board will review the application and carry out due diligence checks on all persons involved. If all documents submitted are accurate and complete, the application will normally be processed within one to three months. Once the licence is approved, the annual licence fee will need to be paid, so that the licence may be issued. The company may then commence its gaming operations.

Being an established offshore financial centre, Curacao introduced legislation to regulate online gambling in 1993. It was one of the first jurisdictions in the world to do so. The law was known as the National Ordinance on Offshore Games of Hazard (NOOGH) and adopted the master-licence and sub-licence model. The first licences were issued under the NOOGH in 1996. In total, four master-licences were issued.

The Curacao Gaming Control Board (CGCB) was established in 1999 for the purpose of supervising licencees.

In July 2023, the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK) was passed, allowing for a more robust and centralised regulatory regime. The CGCB started to accept applications under the new regime in September 2023. Licencees were allowed to operate under their existing sub-licences during a transition period, which ended on 24 December 2024. From that date onwards, all operators are required to hold a licence issued by the CGCB.