The Curacao Gaming Control Board extends the registration date for gaming licenses by 30 days.

Meeting theinitial requirementfor applicants to register for gaming licenses in Curacao by 31 March 2024 has encountered some difficulty.

Due to the challenges applicants face, the decision has been made to push the deadline. With the deadline extended to 30 April 2024, sub-licensees havemore time to applyfor transit licenses.

A deadline relief

The news of the deadline push comes just two days before the original deadline, which was set for March 31st.

The deadline was pushed after the Curacao Gaming Control Board (GCB) became aware of the difficultiesfaced by sub-licensees now required to apply for their licenses via the GCB portal.

According to the GCB, the deadline for application submissions has been extended until 20 April, but all applications currently in progress will continue to be processedas normal.

They also clarified that there will be no further extensions after 30 April 2024 and that requests for extensions will not be considered.

From the start, the Minister of Finance stated that everything possible would be done to ensure that business continued as normal for any sublicenses that want to operate out of Curacao under the transitional and new statutory framework.

The new licensing

With the new licensing cominginto effect, the National Ordinance on Offshore Games of Hazard (NOOGH) will be succeeded by the National Ordinance for Games of Chance (LOK).

According to this, the Gaming Board requires all gaming providers to register by the provided date, as direct licenses and sub-license registrations will not be available under the NOOGH legislation after the deadline. After the deadline, the entire licensing procedure will be handled by the Gaming Control Boardunder the LOK legislation.

These applications are divided into three forms: requesting information on corporate information, personal details, and online gaming applications.

LOK governing the licensing process

Gaming license holders must register their sub-licensees by the given deadline. Independent operators must wait for LOK to come into forceto activate the registration process. This means all current licensees must register regardless of the validity of the current licenses issued under the NOOGH legislation.

In the future, all licenses will begoverned by the LOK legislation, with the GCB in charge of issuing licenses and their extensions.

The GCB managing director, Cedric Pietersz, explained the process, stating that sublicensed people will operate illegally once the master license holder’s license expires. A new license from the Gaming Control Board is necessary.

When the LOK is passed in June, and operators fail to register at the provided time, it will be considered a breach from when the LOK is passed.

The procedure for implementing LOK has been running since September 2023, and we have followed the news. If you want to know how it started, read Curacao initiates a new online gambling licence process via the updated portal. 

The registrations are underway while we wait for the new legislation to pass Parliament and be signed into law. Lawmakers expect big changes withthe improvements to the AML and KYC procedures. Which in turn will enhance their international reputation.

Published: April 17, 2024