Curaçao Licensed Casino Reviews

The Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA), until 2024 known as the Curaçao Gaming Control Board (GCB / CGCB), is the gambling regulator for the country of Curaçao, an autonomous constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Curaçao is one of the longest established online gambling jurisdictions in the world, with continuous online licensing since 1996, and at peak hosted thousands of B2C casino, sportsbook, poker, and crypto operators worldwide. The GCB has served as Curaçao’s AML/CFT supervisor for the gaming sector since 15 February 2019, predating its current expanded licensing role.

Historically the regulator did not issue licences directly to operators. Instead, four master licence holders were authorised under the National Ordinance on Offshore Games of Hazard (NOOGH) of 1993 to issue sub licences to thousands of operators worldwide. The four master licence holders were Cyberluck Curaçao N.V. (1668/JAZ), Curaçao E Gaming / Gaming Curaçao (365/JAZ), Curaçao Interactive Licensing N.V. / CIL (5536/JAZ), and Antillephone N.V. (8048/JAZ). This produced very inconsistent player protection and AML standards across sub licensees and contributed to Curaçao’s reputation as a lighter touch jurisdiction.

The legal framework — LOK 2024 replaces NOOGH 1993

The National Ordinance on Games of Chance, in Dutch Landsverordening op de Kansspelen and commonly referred to as LOK, was approved by the Curaçao Parliament on 17 December 2024 and entered into force on 24 December 2024. The LOK introduces a fundamentally new framework, ending the master licence sub licensing model and establishing the CGA as the sole direct issuer of gambling licences in Curaçao.

The LOK establishes the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) as the single regulator with direct licensing, supervision, and enforcement powers. All operators previously operating as sub licensees of the four master holders must apply for their own direct licence from the CGA. The four master licences have all expired or are in run off, with the last expiring in January 2025. Existing applicants and licensees in good standing have been issued provisional licences during the transition period.

Licence categories under the LOK

The LOK introduces a clear two category framework:

• B2C Operator Licence. For operators offering gambling products directly to consumers, including online casino, slots, live dealer, sports betting, poker, and crypto gambling products.
• B2B Supplier Licence. For software providers, platform providers, content suppliers, and aggregators serving Curaçao licensed B2C operators.

The application process reopened in stages during 2025: B2C applications resumed in mid March 2025, and B2B applications in May to June 2025. The CGA application portal is operated through the official Gaming Control Curaçao license management system.

Application and annual licence fees

Under the LOK fee policy:

• Application fee: EUR 4,592 (non refundable)
• B2C annual fee: EUR 47,450 in total, comprising EUR 24,490 paid to the National Treasury (licence fee) and EUR 22,960 paid to the CGA (supervisory fee)
• B2B annual fee: EUR 24,490 (supervisory fee paid to the CGA)
• Adding a primary web domain: EUR 250
• Technical certificate request: EUR 383
• Ultimate beneficial owner registration: EUR 150
• Updating qualified interest holders: EUR 128

Tax treatment

Curaçao does not levy a specific gross gaming revenue tax or turnover tax on licensed gambling operators. Instead, operators are subject to corporate income tax on net profits. The headline corporate income tax rate is 15 percent, reduced from 22 percent in 2023. There is no VAT on gambling supply and no withholding tax on dividends paid to non residents.

The historic position that drew the iGaming industry to Curaçao is the E Zone regime, under which qualifying entities serving exclusively non resident clients have paid an effective two percent corporate income tax rate on net profits. Most internationally focused Curaçao licensed operators are structured as E Zone entities. The E Zone two percent regime was statutorily scheduled to expire on 1 January 2026; operators relying on the regime should confirm with local advisers whether an extension or successor regime applies to their structure for 2026 onwards.

From 1 January 2025, Curaçao has implemented the OECD Pillar Two minimum tax framework, applying a 15 percent minimum effective tax rate to multinational groups with consolidated annual revenue of at least EUR 750 million. This applies to a small number of the largest licensees only and does not change the headline rate for the vast majority of Curaçao licensed operators.

Player protection and AML under the LOK

The LOK introduces materially stricter player protection and AML obligations than the prior NOOGH framework. Licensed operators must implement:

• Robust KYC and customer due diligence at registration and for material transactions
• Transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting under Curaçao’s National Ordinance on the Reporting of Unusual Transactions regime
• Operator level self exclusion and tools to limit deposits, time, and losses
• Mandatory information about gambling risk and external support resources
• Complaints handling and a documented dispute resolution procedure
• Segregation of player funds with statement of fund protection

The CGA’s enforcement toolkit is broader under the LOK, including administrative fines, licence suspension, and licence revocation. The transition is being closely watched by other regulators because of Curaçao’s historic reputation, and the CGA has signalled that audit and supervision activity will increase materially during the first full year of LOK enforcement.

How Curaçao sits in the regulated landscape

Post-LOK transition, the Curaçao framework has moved closer to other regulated jurisdictions. The closest sister offshore-tier frameworks are the Anjouan Offshore Financial Authority and the Mwali International Services Authority, both of which carry material federal-level legal status disputes that Curaçao does not. The Kahnawà:ke Gaming Commission is the most established First Nations alternative, founded in 1996 with online licensing since 1999, and the newer Tobique Gaming Commission launched in 2023 under the same Section 35 constitutional basis. Operators upgrading from Curaçao to a tier-one regulator typically choose the Malta Gaming Authority for EU activity, the UK Gambling Commission for UK activity, or the Gibraltar Gambling Division for combined coverage. Costa Rica’s data processing permit framework and Panama’s Junta de Control de Juegos are also referenced in the Directory as alternative offshore options.

Why this matters

Gamblers Connect maintains this Curaçao section of our Casino Directory as a licence filtered industry reference. We do not rank operators or publish “best casino” lists. Operators reviewed above are independently assessed against the CGA public register and, where applicable, undergo Proof of Play testing and scoring under our 12 criteria Responsible Gambling Index. Curaçao’s tier varies widely across operators, particularly during the LOK transition, and our reviews surface that variance rather than smoothing it over. Negative findings are published.