New Gambling Law Curaçao Will Come Into Effect in Q2

The new gambling law in Curaçao was planned to come into effect in Q4 of 2022, but the launch of the gambling bill has been postponed to Q2 of this year. Minister of Finance Javier Silvania expects the new law to be introduced in the new year.

The introduction of the new gambling law in Curaçao, the National Ordinance on Offshore Games of Hazard (LOK), is going through “some delays” as referred to in the implementation agenda for the first quarter of the new year. The implementation agenda is published every quarter, providing an update on the upcoming reforms in Curaçao.

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Waiting For a New Planning

Halfway through 2022, it was expected that the new Curaçao gambling law would still be introduced at the end of last year. This expectation was already adjusted last month by the Minister of Finance. Silvania’s expectation now is that the new law will be introduced in the second quarter of 2023. The minister shared this forecast during a conference of the gambling industry in Malta last month, and was publicly shared by Knipselkrant Curaçao. In the implementation agenda that was published earlier this week, it was also revealed why the implementation has been postponed: according to the report, the draft bill must still be amended by the minister after advice of the Department of Legislation and Legal Affairs (WJZ) and the memorandum of the Temporary Work Organisation (TWO).

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Meeting With the Dutch Minister

The TWO will only publish the memorandum after the minister has announced the revised schedule. In recent months, industry-oriented input has been obtained from important stakeholders and this input still needs to be processed in the bills. Once Silvania has adjusted the schedule, the next steps can be taken. The earlier agreement that still stands is the official consultation that Javier Silvania will have with the Dutch Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind. In this consultation, Silvania is believed to provide insight into the current state of affairs and the planning. This meeting is scheduled for this month.

Hoping for Help from Malta

The revised planning by the minister was supposed to be completed on 1 January 2023, but it has not yet been published. However, the statements made by the minister at the conference in Malta indicate that there is already a detailed timeline put in place. In addition, the minister expressed the hope that Curaçao will receive assistance from the government of Malta. The policymakers of both countries have been in contact for some time, because Curaçao hopes to learn from Malta’s experiences with gambling companies.

Many online operators currently have a Curaçao sub-licence, but are not physically located on the island. The new gambling law includes a new list of requirements with part of these requirements is that (part of) the gambling company must be established in the country of Curaçao. According to Silvania, this can cause many online casinos with a sub-licence to cease their activities in the country. Silvania says “not to have any problem if that happens”. According to Silvania, there are currently thousands of online casinos with such a sub-licence that are issued by private companies and hence are hardly supervised.

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About Crypto Casinos

Crypto casinos were introduced to online gambling as a result of the quest of casino industries to enhance the casino gaming experience through tech-oriented and creative ways including the launch of new casinos that accepted crypto. Although the different crypto currencies are often listed on the banking page it is a currency rather than a payment method. Players that sign up to crypto casinos can either (1) deposit in crypto, (2) withdraw in crypto, (3) play in crypto or do (4) all the previously mentioned. As crypto casinos are not regulated by national banks, crypto is not accepted in many countries with operators moving to countries like Curaçao. The private sub-licences from Curaçao are known to be more flexible when it comes to regulation and accepting crypto.

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