What changed, and why your old license number may mean nothing
For twenty years Curacao licensing worked through four master licensees, who issued sub-licenses to operators. Cyberluck (1668/JAZ), Antillephone (8048/JAZ), Curacao Interactive Licensing (5536/JAZ) and Gaming Curacao (365/JAZ). You dealt with a master, not with the government, and your authorisation lived or died with theirs.
That system is gone. The Landsverordening op de kansspelen, the LOK, was adopted by the Staten van Curacao on 17 December 2024 and came into force on 24 December 2024, replacing the 1993 framework. The regulator, the Gaming Control Board, now operates publicly as the Curacao Gaming Authority and is the sole issuer of licenses. It moved from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Justice on 19 August 2025.
The transition is over. Direct B2C applications opened in the first quarter of 2025 and B2B applications around May to June. The last master license expired in January 2025. Existing sub-licensees in good standing were converted to provisional licensees under an orange seal, and that orange-seal regime ended on 15 October 2025. Only a direct LOK grant is valid now.
What this means in practice. Masters no longer issue or maintain sub-licenses. A sub-license number on its own is not evidence that anybody is currently authorised. If a provider is still describing your regulatory cover in sub-license language, that is a question to ask today, in writing, not at renewal.
What it costs
Figures below are the CGA fee schedule as reported by two independent sources on 11 October 2026, which agree on every line.
| Fee | B2C | B2B |
|---|---|---|
| Application, one-off, non-refundable | EUR 4,592 | EUR 4,592 |
| Annual, total | EUR 47,450 | EUR 24,490 |
| of which National Treasury license fee | EUR 24,490 | nil |
| of which CGA supervisory fee | EUR 22,960 | EUR 24,490 |
And the smaller items, which add up faster than people expect:
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| UBO screening, each | EUR 150 |
| Qualified interest holder, 10% or more, each | EUR 150 |
| Per listed UBO | EUR 2,551 |
| Adding a main domain, one-off | EUR 250 |
| Certificate application | EUR 383 |
| Change or addition of a UBO, per person | EUR 128 |
| Change of a qualified interest holder, per person | EUR 128 |
| Extending or replacing games, per game | EUR 13 |
Payment terms matter here. Year one is invoiced in two six-month instalments; later years are a single annual invoice. Invoices fall due within fourteen days, and annual fees are due in full by 15 January. Non-payment beyond seventy-one days triggers revocation. That is a short fuse for a company that has had a bad quarter, and it belongs in your cash-flow plan rather than in a surprise.
If you are doing both B2C and B2B, you need both grants. There is no combined license.
How long it takes
Two phases. Phase one assesses integrity and financial viability. Phase two assesses technical, operational and legal compliance. Each phase has an indicative processing time of about eight weeks, extendable by up to four weeks each. A provisional license may be granted for up to six months, extendable once by six months, while the definitive grant is finalised. The definitive license is issued for an indefinite duration.
A realistic plan is four to six months from a complete file, which is what practitioners consistently say and which is not the same as the eight-plus-eight the schedule implies.
The local presence rule, and the date that matters
Article 5.12 of the LOK requires real substance on the island: in years one to four, at least one full-time key person recruited from the Curacao Population Register, in addition to a local director; from year five, at least three key persons; and the operator's own office premises on Curacao.
This obligation has been deferred. The Minister of Justice has confirmed that operators will not be required to meet Article 5.12 before 1 April 2027.
Two consequences, and both are easy to get wrong. If you are modelling a Curacao launch for 2026, the staffing cost is not in year one, but it is in your year two, and it is a real cost: a full-time local hire plus premises. And a deferral is not a repeal. Anyone selling you a Curacao license on the basis that the substance rule will never arrive is selling you a position on Curacaoan politics, not a fact.
The entity and the people
A Curacao N.V. or equivalent local company. Beneficial ownership disclosed down to natural persons. Certified criminal-record extracts for directors and beneficial owners, plus a fit-and-proper questionnaire. A responsible-gambling officer and an AML compliance officer, both named.
On anti-money laundering, the framework is NORUT for unusual transaction reporting, NOIS for customer identification and the MLTFPO for the criminal offences, with a CGA AML Policy issued in January 2025. Unusual transactions are filed with FIU Curacao through goAML. The gambling-sector reporting threshold is NAf 5,000, roughly EUR 2,500. Customer due diligence is required for occasional transactions at or above NAf 4,000, and linked transactions are aggregated so that splitting a payment does not avoid it. Identity verification before funding or play. Minimum age eighteen.
Material changes, a change of control or a new platform, require notification and can trigger reassessment.
How to check whether a Curacao license is real
If you are a player, an affiliate or a partner trying to verify a site, this is the part you came for. Four checks, in order.
- Look for a direct LOK grant, not a sub-license number. Anything in the old master-plus-sub-license form, including the four numbers listed at the top of this page, is no longer evidence of current authorisation on its own.
- Check the name of the licensed entity, not the brand. The license belongs to a company; brands come and go underneath it.
- Use the regulator's own register rather than the seal in the website footer. A footer seal is an image and an image proves nothing.
- If the register does not resolve the license, treat that as the answer and contact the CGA directly rather than the operator.
An operator who is properly licensed will not mind any of this and will tell you the entity name without being pressed.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a Curacao gaming license cost in 2026?
EUR 4,592 to apply, then EUR 47,450 a year for a B2C license or EUR 24,490 for B2B, plus per-UBO, per-domain and per-game administrative fees. Year one is invoiced in two six-month instalments.
How long does a Curacao license take?
Each of the two assessment phases is indicated at about eight weeks, extendable by four. Four to six months from a complete file is the realistic planning figure. A provisional license of up to six months may bridge the gap.
Are Curacao sub-licenses still valid?
No. The last master license expired in January 2025 and the provisional orange-seal regime ended on 15 October 2025. Only a direct LOK grant from the CGA is valid now.
Do I need to have staff and an office in Curacao?
Eventually, yes. Article 5.12 requires a local director plus at least one full-time key person recruited locally, rising to three from year five, and the operator's own premises. The obligation has been deferred and does not bite before 1 April 2027.
What is the difference between a B2C and a B2B Curacao license?
B2C is for the player-facing operator, who holds the player relationship and player funds. B2B is for platform, game content, aggregation and payment or KYC services supplied to a B2C licensee. Each role needs its own direct grant, and an operator doing both needs both.
Curacao or Anjouan?
Different products. Curacao costs roughly three times as much annually, takes four to six months instead of weeks, and will require local substance from 2027. In exchange it is a government-run regime inside the Kingdom of the Netherlands with a supervisory authority and a public register, which is a materially easier conversation with banks and payment providers.