According to Cedric Pietersz, GBC or Gaming Control Board’s managing director, interest in entering Curaçao‘s gambling market has skyrocketed. This is as the regulator seeks to improve its licensing processes to meet the demand.
In the previous month, Pietersz told iGB that the Curaçao regulator had received 740 online gambling license applications in April. This occurred during the closing of its H1 window. He expects an additional 300 applications to flood in over the next couple of months. This will be part of the latest licensing window opening in July.
Pietersz acknowledged that the GCB needs to improve its infrastructure. This is necessary if it wants to meet the eight-week licensing deadline under its new regulatory framework.
He hinted as the regulator prepares its new legislation, there are delays in the overall process. The managing director said that from a regulatory standpoint, when you are transitioning a regime, you would like for it to be as short a period and effective as possible. But when you are dealing with a lot of parties it gets a little bit tricky. You have to take into account a lot of goals or objectives or concerns people may have in the process.
He believes both the government and the GCB would have preferred a quicker licensing process. However, they had to face the reality of many moving factors.
The influx follows a new licensing regime. The updated guidance explains how to apply and what the new gaming licenses will cover.
An application request is complete if it contains three forms. This has been clarified in the nine-page document. The three forms are the online gaming application form, the personal history disclosure form, and the corporate and business information form.
The new regulatory framework was first built in September of last year. It is dubbed the National Ordinance for Games of Chance or LOK and it set to be fully implemented in the fourth quarter of this.
