Curaçao's New Gaming Licence Framework Under the LOK

Curaçao — long one of the most-used and most-debated licensing jurisdictions in online gambling — has moved to a new legal framework. The National Ordinance on Games of Chance (the LOK) entered into force on 24 December 2024, and the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) is now responsible for the licensing and supervision of the island's online gaming sector.

What the LOK changes

The LOK replaces Curaçao's older, much-criticised model — under which "master licence" holders could sub-license third parties with limited oversight — with a framework in which the CGA licenses and supervises operators directly. Under the LOK, offering online gaming in or from Curaçao without an online gaming licence is prohibited.

The role of the Curaçao Gaming Authority

The CGA is now the responsible body for licensing and supervision of the online gaming sector. That is the substantive shift: oversight sits with a named regulator applying a statutory framework, rather than with a chain of private master-licence relationships. For a jurisdiction whose reputation has rested heavily on how it is supervised, the identity of the supervisor is the whole point.

What it means for operators and players

For operators, the practical requirement is direct: hold a valid CGA online gaming licence to offer online gaming in or from Curaçao. For players — and for anyone assessing where a casino is licensed — the more important question is what a Curaçao licence now signals compared with the tiers above and below it. Curaçao under the LOK is a real licence with a named regulator, but it still sits below jurisdictions such as the Malta Gaming Authority or the UK Gambling Commission on the scale of consumer protection.

Readers weighing what a Curaçao licence is worth against other jurisdictions can see how the tiers compare in BonusReviewers' guide to casino licence types, which sets Curaçao alongside MGA, Tobique and Anjouan.

BonusLists analysis

The LOK is the most consequential thing to happen to Curaçao's licensing reputation in years, because it attacks the specific criticism that dogged the old model: the absence of a real, accountable supervisor. Whether it changes perceptions depends on enforcement — a statute prohibiting unlicensed operation only matters if the CGA acts on it. The framework is in place and the prohibition is explicit; the open question, as with any newly empowered regulator, is how visibly it uses those powers.

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