2026-01-06

The State of the Curaçao Gambling License: Reform, Stagnation, and Loss of Credibility

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This report examines what has been happening with the Curaçao gambling license over the past three years — and why the situation matters far beyond Curaçao itself.

Nearly three years ago, the Curaçao authorities announced a fundamental reform of the gambling regulatory regime. At the time, the changes were presented as decisive and structural. Since then, however, the system has remained in a prolonged state of turbulence, characterized less by transformation than by uncertainty.

The Curaçao gambling reform has been announced, postponed, extended, and reinterpreted — but never fully implemented.

The Original Promise of Reform

In January 2023, Curaçao formally declared its intention to overhaul the gambling framework. The stated goals were ambitious and, on paper, aligned with international standards.

dismantling the master license and sub-license regime;
introducing direct licensing;
increasing annual licensing fees;
centralizing oversight under a single regulator;
improving transparency and compliance;
establishing responsible gambling and exclusion mechanisms.

To support this transition, the Curaçao Gambling Authority was created, replacing the fragmented system of multiple supervisory bodies.

The reform promised to exchange low cost and minimal oversight for higher standards and international credibility.

What Actually Happened: A Regime of Extensions

In practice, the reform never reached completion. Instead, it entered a cycle of provisional measures and repeated extensions.

August 2023: the existing master license regime was extended for one year.
December 2024–2025: the provisional licensing framework was extended again, this time until December 2025.
A National Ordinance formally established the new authority, but without delivering operational clarity.

By the time these extensions were announced, many operators, regulators, and financial institutions had already begun looking for alternatives.

The reform became a permanent transition — a system designed to end, but continuously prolonged.

The Transparency That Never Arrived

Transparency was one of the central pillars of the reform. This was symbolized by the introduction of license seals, intended to mirror the Maltese model.

The concept was straightforward:

remove legacy “orange” seals;
retain only “green” seals;
ensure that each seal links to a public license verification page.

By late 2025, the outcome was the opposite of the stated goal.

operators displayed mixed seals of different colors;
many verification links were broken or led nowhere;
license status could not be reliably confirmed.

The transparency initiative resulted not in clarity, but in fragmentation and confusion.

Institutional Instability and Erosion of Trust

Beyond technical inconsistencies, the reform suffered from institutional instability.

The advisory board of the new authority resigned and was not reconstituted.
The Financial Supervision Board confirmed that the Public Prosecutor’s Office was investigating the gambling authority.
Long-standing rumors of licensing irregularities resurfaced.
Official denials followed, but were contradictory and inconclusive.

Three years after the reform was announced, neither the old system nor the new one commands full trust.

Why It Still Matters: The Economic Stake

Despite reputational damage, the Curaçao license remains relevant for one key reason: scale.

The current cost structure typically includes:

approximately €4,000 application fee;
around €12,000 annual license fee;
€150–200 per month for each operational URL.

For most operators, this results in annual costs exceeding €15,000 per casino.

Multiplied across thousands of B2C and B2B operators, the total annual stake approaches €100 million. This is the real center of gravity of the dispute.

New Jurisdictions Filling the Vacuum

As Curaçao’s credibility weakened, alternative jurisdictions moved in to capture displaced demand.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica did not introduce formal gambling regulation. Instead, it focused on the true bottleneck of the industry: banking and payments.

Its permissive crypto environment allows operators to:

register companies;
open bank accounts;
accept crypto payments from players;
convert those funds into fiat locally.

While lacking direct EU or US linkage, offshore structures often bridge this gap in practice.

Anjouan (Comoros Islands)

Anjouan positioned itself as a licensing authority and reportedly attracted hundreds of operators.

Estimates suggest that Anjouan collected close to €20 million in licensing fees, diverting a significant share of Curaçao’s former market.

Malta’s Shadow Role

Malta remains one of the most established gambling regulators globally. While no direct evidence of coordination exists, the pattern of media coverage is notable.

Negative Curaçao developments were consistently amplified through Malta-based outlets, suggesting strategic interest — though such conclusions remain interpretative.

The Anjouan Scandal: A Familiar Pattern

Ironically, the most serious challenge to Curaçao’s former dominance came from Anjouan itself.

In early January, investigative reporting revealed that the private entity issuing Anjouan licenses may not have been legally empowered to do so.

The structure closely resembled a master license model — precisely the system Curaçao attempted, but failed, to dismantle.

As a result, Anjouan-issued licenses are now under scrutiny and may ultimately be deemed invalid.

Conclusion

The Curaçao gambling reform was ambitious in intent, but unsuccessful in execution.

The old system was never fully dismantled.
The new system never fully stabilized.
Transparency remained inconsistent.
Institutional trust eroded.
Competitors captured market share.

Curaçao attempted to move from permissive scale to regulated credibility. It achieved neither.

Until enforcement, clarity, and institutional trust are restored, the Curaçao license will remain a transitional instrument in an increasingly fragmented and skeptical global gambling ecosystem.