Curacao's new digital licensing seal comes into effect

Curacao has continued to revamp its gambling framework as part of the National Ordinance on Games of Chance which is still awaiting final legislative approval in preparation for overhauling the island country’s gambling framework.

Starting this past Monday, Curacao-licensed gaming operators and brands that have completed a newly required licensing process with the Gaming Control Board (GCB) have the opportunity to display a new seal of approval on their websites as indicative of their success.

The seal seeks to quickly and reliably establish the reputation of a casino that is licensed in the jurisdiction and is an attempt to further consolidate Curacao’s reputation as an issuer of licensees and permits to trustworthy gambling operators.

This news comes on the tail of a confirmation in December by the Ministry of Finance in Curacao, and advisor Aideen Shortt, who explained that the seal would be used to help guide consumers worldwide as to what Curacao licensees are actually legitimate providers of safe and reliable gambling experiences, the Curacao Chronicle explained.

As a reminder, Curacao has been working on replacing its current regime of master license and sublicense holders with a more streamlined version of it, which factors in international laws and helps elevate the country’s status as a place where legitimate businesses are setting up shop as opposed to rogue operators.

Curacao has had a lot of incentives and reasons to try and change the current status quo. The Netherlands and Australia have been both actively engaged with gambling officials from the country, often communicating frustration that businesses registered in Curacao have been allowed to target their respective markets without any consequence or threat of ramifications.

In the meantime, the Ministry of Finance has explained that the digital seal granted to a company must only be displayed and is applicable in those cases when a company has used the registration process in the dedicated GCB portal. Once this process is completed, a seal may indeed be displayed on the operator’s website, and it must be done in a way that is prominent and legible.

Current license holders who have not undergone the updated licensing process are not allowed to benefit from this new digital seal. Another noteworthy aspect of the seal is the visibility of the cert.gcb.cw URL in the seal itself.

Moving forward, the changes to the licensing regime should help elevate Curacao’s status as an international licensing authority and put aside any qualms about operators taking advantage of a lax regime to push their rogue operations onto licensed markets.

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