Two of Curaçao’s master licences have now expired, as the island moves away from the controversial gambling regulation of its past, but with long-promised legislation still yet to be enacted the future remains uncertain.
On October 1, the second of Curaçao’s four master licences expired after Cyberluck Curaçao NV passed a deadline set by the Curaçao Gaming Control Board (GCB) for the end of its authorisation. Cyberluck joined Gaming Services Provider NV in the history books, with the latter’s licence having expired on August 18.
That leaves only Antillephone NV and C.I.L. Curaçao Interactive Licensing NV still active, along with their unknown numbers of sub-licensees. Their authorisations are set to expire on November 28 and January 31, respectively.
Ongoing reforms in Curaçao will end the master licence system, which positions those four companies as the only direct licensees. Beneath them sat likely thousands of sub-licensees; the actual gambling operators that used Curaçao’s seal of approval to offer their products on the international market.
Even the government and its regulator have admitted they do not know which operators, or how many of them, were “licensed” in Curaçao under this arrangement.
The slow death of the master licences system is part of a shift to direct licensing. Companies wishing to remain in Curaçao have been able to apply for a new licence during several windows this year, with the first new-look approvals issued in February.
However, what was billed as a dramatic transition to a new, more accountable, era of gambling regulation on the island has yet to fully materialise.
Only interim licences are being issued by the GCB because the National Ordinance on Gambling (LOK), which is supposed to replace existing gambling legislation, has not been passed.
It was introduced to parliament in December last year but has yet to be approved by politicians or even published.
The bill is expected to introduce several new compliance requirements for gambling companies in Curaçao, including the need to employ a local managing director.
There has been no official news on the bill since April, when finance minister Javier Silvania said he had amended it to address feedback from the Curaçao Bar Association, the Advisory Council (RvA) and advice from the Dutch government's Temporary Work Organization (TWO).
It is now more than 18 months since Silvania addressed the gambling industry at the ICE trade show in London, promising to wash away the nefarious image of Curaçao’s gambling sector.
“We have had a lot to endure in terms of our reputation in the online gambling industry,” he told delegates. “This ends now. The new law will help improve regulation in Curaçao by promoting transparency and accountability.”
Curaçao is ultimately part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and has long dodged pressure from the Dutch government to overhaul its gambling regulation.
Despite committing to reforms, the Curaçao government has now missed three deadlines issued by the Netherlands to publish its legislation.
Most recently, Dutch officials called for the bill to be published no later than June 30.
The Dutch government and Javier Silvania did not respond to a request to comment on this article.
Despite updates on the LOK having gone quiet in recent months, the gaming board has adopted a system of digital seals, which indicates that a gambling company is engaging with the new interim licence system.
Operators can display an orange seal if they have submitted an application, but not yet been approved, or a green seal if they have been granted an interim licence by the GCB.
A licence fee of 36,000 Netherlands Antillean guilder (ANG) (€18,323), plus a monthly charge of ANG7,000, can be paid either in euros or, in a very unusual move for a gambling regulator, via the cryptocurrency Tether — a so-called “stablecoin” which is pegged to the value of the US dollar.
The lifespan of this temporary system is uncertain and the survival of the project as a whole faces the very real political challenge of a general election, currently scheduled for March 2025.
Silvania is a member of the Movement for the Future of Curaçao (MFK) party, which is currently the largest political party in a three-way coalition. MFK won nine of the 21 seats available in Curaçao’s last election in 2021, marking its first time in government since 2010.
In the absence of full reforms, Curaçao continues to find itself linked to controversy.
Most recently, three people were arrested in Japan in September for operating allegedly illegal gambling websites which local police said had links to Curaçao.