The Curacao Parliament has approved and passed the National Opportunity Games Ordinance (LOK), which is the country's new regulatory framework and gambling licensing system.
At the meeting, the Curacao Parliament passed the LOK gambling bill with a majority vote of 13 to 6.
GCB Public Relations and Marketing Consultant Aideen Short called it "a great day for our industry" in a LinkedIn post after the approval.
The next step will be for the Governor to sign the LOK bill, which is likely to be completed next week. The LOK bill will take effect from that day.
This means that LOK has met the target of the Curacao Gaming Control Board (GCB) for the fourth quarter of 2024, although GCB Managing Director Cedric Pietersz previously told iGB that the regulator faced delays due to a large number of license submissions.
During the discussion of the 2024 budget in December by the Curacao Parliament, Minister Silvania told the Parliament that the GCB has so far received thousands of online gambling license applications.
He said that 220 licenses have already been issued, and GCB expects about 600 companies to be authorized by the end of the first quarter of 2025. The budget was finally determined and passed on December 13.
What is the goal of LOK?
According to the new regulations, the previous master license system in the jurisdiction has been abolished, meaning that once the regulations take effect, existing licenses will become invalid. All licensees are required to reapply under the new system.
One of the goals of the Curacao Regulatory Authority is to improve Curacao's reputation as a haven for gray market operators. Finance Minister Javier Silvania had previously described the reform as a "safety net" aimed at unlicensed gambling operators.
The new system offers various application types for B2B, B2C, and B2B2C operators. Pietersz mentioned that as early as July, he saw that the quality of applications was not the best, as the submissions did not meet the standards of the new regulations.
"Many applications were blocked when entering our clarification process due to missing documents," Pietersz said. "Even at the first step, we had to return many applications, which means we need more time to process."
GCB counters corruption allegations
In November, the GCB announced part of the licensing process in response to allegations that the new system was rife with corruption, fraud, and money laundering.
The GCB stated that it is fully responsible for processing and issuing licenses.
"The GCB has the authority to issue, amend, temporarily suspend, revoke, or refuse to issue licenses, as well as to attach terms and conditions to licenses," the GCB stated. "Therefore, the claim that the GCB lacks the statutory power to issue licenses is incorrect."
