Curaçao Drops Gambling Licensing Portal, Leaving Filing Deadlines Unclear

In its October 7 announcement, the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) said the old platform would not return to service. The service arrangements supporting it are also being discontinued, although the regulator did not identify the service provider.

The authority is working on an interim arrangement for licensing and compliance filings. It hoped to explain the new process by October 9, but gave no date for a replacement platform.

October 2 Instructions Have a Problem

The earlier CGA notice told applicants not to email documents intended for the portal. The egl-applications mailbox could not be used as a substitute, and submission deadlines were postponed until the system came back online.

But the portal is not coming back, and the October 2 notice gives applicants no new deadline to work with. The October 7 announcement does not specify another way to submit outstanding documents either.

Applicants who followed the earlier instructions are still waiting for guidance on their paperwork. CGA says its licensing and supervisory work will continue despite the portal’s closure.

A Casino Licence and a Domain Seal Are Different

CGA is also preparing to replace its digital seal verification mechanism. The regulator warned that the current seal’s availability would be affected, without announcing when the alternative would be ready.

Its certification policy requires B2C casino websites to display a Certificate of Operation Seal. The linked record must identify the exact domain, the licensed operator and the licence status.

A separate Licence Certificate establishes that a company holds a licence. It does not automatically authorise every gambling website associated with that company, something worth checking when reviewing casino partners.

The October 7 announcement did not revoke existing licences or declare all digital seals invalid. CGA is still working to contain the data leak from September’s unauthorised access incident, which 15M covered when more than 40,000 Curaçao gaming documents became publicly searchable.