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The Curaçao Gaming Control Board (GCB) has reopened its licence application portal to allow interested operators to register for a new regime that has still not been enacted.
From today (July 15) applications for B2C, B2B2C and B2B businesses can once again be submitted.
Applications will be processed under the current National Ordinance on Offshore Games of Hazard (NOOGH), according to a GCB announcement on July 11.
The GCB stated it would continue to prioritise applications submitted on or before the previous April 30 deadline.
Applicants have been told to refer to the application submission guidelines published in March on the GCB website and the application manual published on its portal “as the general rule”.
However, the latest update also includes three notes on changes to the portal procedure relating to account openings, updates to the registration of “qualifying persons” and addresses the inclusion of real-time checklists during the application process.
A reminder was also included to clarify what will happen to the current master licence holders, through which the entire Curaçao gambling ecosystem is sublicensed.
None of the master licences will be renewed after their expiration dates, the board said, with the first expiring in August 2024 and the last set to expire in January 2025.
“If the LOK (the National Ordinance for Games of Chance) is enacted before any of these expiration dates, the Master License will automatically end on the enactment date,” the announcement states.
At least one master licence holder, Gaming Servicer Provider N.V., has reportedly contacted its clients to inform them that its approval will expire on August 18.
Sublicensees, which have fully completed applications registered on the portal but have not been granted a direct licence before their associated master licence expires, will be offered a “certificate of operation” to allow them to continue operating temporarily.
When it comes to internet domain management, the GCB has a user manual on its portal that explains how to remove and transfer domains.
Curaçao was given a deadline of June 30 by the Netherlands to publish its new gambling legislation, having already missed two previous deadlines.
However, the LOK has yet to be published or fully approved by parliament, even as Curaçao issues temporary licences that will be transposed into the new regime.
Meanwhile, several challenger jurisdictions around the world are stepping up pitches to attract offshore gambling operators, in some cases promising extremely light touch regulations.
Additional reporting by Joe Ewens.
