Curaçao to Introduce New Online Gambling Regulator

The Caribbean island of Curaçao has announced that it plans to overhaul its online gambling license approval process following continued criticism of its infamously liberal licensing procedure.

The island is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and since the Dutch government moved to regulate online gambling.

At present, the Curaçao government operates a master license system with only four businesses having direct licenses issued to them. These companies can then offer sub-licenses of their own to any gambling operator and set their own conditions for the licenses. This means that the government has no real control over who holds a sub-license.

However, a bill passed by Curaçao’s Council of Ministers has proposed the creation of a new independent state licensing body, the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA). This will be the primary regulatory body issuing license to both B2C and B2B companies.