Many Curacao casinos accept players from UK via mirrors or via managers
The Curacao gaming license is the most popular among online casinos. Currently it is being held by around 450 online casino operators. As each operator may control more than one casino brand, you can find more than a thousand Curacao online casinos on every casino-related site including our Gamblescope.
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- Attractive bonuses and promotional offers
- Accepts multiple cryptocurrencies
- Casino, Live Casino, Sportsbook
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- Weekly CashBack is calculated on all deposits which were made over the previous 7 days.
- Cashback bonuses have 45 times wagering requirements for slots
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- + 3,000 Games
- - Fast payouts and easy verification
- 10$ minimum withdrawal
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Licensing mechanism in Curacao
In Curacao there are two types of casino licenses: sub-license and master license. Both allow their holders to arrange gambling activities online.
But there are some differences. The master license could be obtained via the Minister of Finance (since 2018 — from the Curacao Gaming Control Board) and required a one-time setup fee of 34000$ and 5600$ monthly fee. But currently no such licenses are being issued.
The only perk it gives is the ability to issue sub-licenses, so no wonder there are currently only 4 Curacao companies holding master licenses, that have turned sub-licensing into a profitable business:
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Cyberluck Curacao N.V. (Curacao-eGaming) #1668/JAZ (works since 1996)
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Gaming Curacao (GC) #365/JAZ
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Curacao Interactive Licensing N.V. (CIL) #5536/JAZ
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Antillephone NV #8048/JAZ (crypto-friendly)
This means that casino licensing in Curacao is effectively in private hands, since everyone wanting to start an online casino will turn to one of these companies for cheaper and quickly obtainable sub-licenses. Such sub-license remain valid for as long as the master license of the issuer is.
The Cost of the Curacao Gaming License
Since sub-licenses are issued through private companies and a huge number of legal companies in the field of gambling and offshore business are offering turnkey solutions for those wishing to open a Curacao-licensed casino or sportsbook, prices vary and there is ample room for negotiations and possibilities to search for the best terms.
The core expenses would be the 10000-20000$ yearly license fee depending on the company chosen. But extra funds are required to open a company in Curacao and obtain an account in one of the banks in the EU. A lot here depends on the applicant’s current capabilities and previous experience. For example, finding a bank willing to proceed payments for a gambling company is not easy nowadays, but maybe you already know one?
Anyway, should you choose to go for a turnkey solution, a Curacao company registration might cost up to 8000$ and setting up a bank account with all the associated paperwork and permits — 2500-3000$ more.
And we suggest doing so if you have no previous experience in starting a Curacao casino. It’s important to begin earning as fast as you can, so no reason to try saving a few thousands if you can lose more because of delays.
All in all that’s around 20000-35000$ to obtain a Curacao gaming license. Possibly cheaper if you can make some steps on your own.
Curacao Gaming License Advantages
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It is the cheapest license on the market if we sum up all of the costs. While there are similarly priced licenses like Montenegro or the Isle of Man, you will pay much more just in order to comply with the requirements and become a valid applicant.
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2% net gain tax. This says everything. No other taxes, if you’re working strictly online. Sounds more than fair to share just 2% of your profits with this nice country?
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The island provides all EU benefits while being outside of the EU. This means your casino will be considered legit in the EU gambling market.
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Few countries are restricted. The license offers global reach, as the Curacao-licensed casino can’t accept players only from the US, France, the Netherlands, the UK and Curacao itself by default, as well as people from the countries where gambling is explicitly banned by law. The rest is to be decided by the casino owner.
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Crypto-friendly. Since the license allows inviting players from almost all over the world, it is natural for crypto-casinos to thrive in Curacao.
Curacao-licensed Casino Disadvantages?
With advantages being obvious and further amplified by companies offering help in obtaining the Curacao gambling license, it is easy to miss the disadvantages as most of them are related to the player, not the owner.
1. Inadequate Player Coverage
One of the tasks of the casino Licensing bodies is to intervene in disputes between the casino and the player, if they are unable to resolve the issue between themselves. But the Curacao Gaming Control Board is famous for abstaining from this. Instead it delegates all the hassle to the companies holding master licenses. And they don’t have much incentive to help the player as they are more interested in selling new sub-licenses and maintaining the existing ones.
2. Potential Player Loss
This derives from the previous point. Many conscious players simply shun brands operating under the Curacao gaming license, since they want to diminish the chance of something bad happening to their deposits. So they choose more reputable jurisdictions that allow them to defend their interests if needed.
3. Difficulties With Opening a Bank Account for the Casino
Not many banks are willing to accept payments for the casinos because they consider this as a possible threat to their business and reputation. And even less banks are willing to cooperate with Curacao casinos, because the aforementioned threats multiply.
4. Casino Servers Must be Located in Curacao
All Curacao-licensed online casinos must have their servers in Curacao. While there are some offers from data centres to choose from, many countries are getting extremely cautious with how and where their citizen data is getting processed. So are implementing new laws regarding such processing happening strictly on their own territory. This creates potential contradictions between the Curacao law and the laws of the other countries and bears risks of a potential lawsuit.
5. Restriction From Countries With a Huge Gambling Potential
The Curacao license restricts the casino from marketing its services in the US, the Netherlands and France. That’s nearly 400 000 000 people with one of the highest personal income in the world.
6. Marketing Restrictions
There can be situations when a Curacao casino can accept players from a certain country but can’t legally advertise there. So there isn’t much chance people will learn about the brand and come playing on their own. Australia is an example of such a country.
The Concluding Thoughts
The Curacao Gaming License will continue to remain the most popular among the rookie casino owners and those aiming to operate huge networks of online casinos and bookmakers thanks to being so easy to obtain.
But the most conscious casino operators eventually switch to more reputable licenses like UKGC, MGA, Gibraltar, Swedish, Danish, Greek and others as means to prove their trustworthiness, increase their profits and gain access to markets inaccessible for the Curacao license holders.
Here we have gathered online casinos that either made this crucial step and swapped their Curacao gaming license for a more reputable one. Or started working in a reputable jurisdiction and never even had a Curacao license in the first place.
