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Curaçao
Curaçao is complicated. The origins of online gambling there are shrouded in mystery. On the face of it all seemed straightforward/ however, that’s the last thing it is.
Curaçao is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea not far from Venezuela.
Curaçao has its own government, parliament, and legal system. It is responsible for managing local affairs such as economic matters while The Netherlands is responsible for foreign affairs and defense.
In 1993, Curaçao issued No. 63 NATIONAL ORDINANCE of 8 June 1993 containing provisions regarding the exploitation of gambling on the international market by means of service line services and amending the Criminal Code of the Netherlands Antilles.
The ordinance grants the governor the right to grant licenses to carry out the provision of gaming services internationally.
- The original Dutch uses the word vergunning which means license and is singular. To me that means just one license would be offered.
- No reference to the internet at that time; the ordinance mentions ‘service lines’, which, in 1993, would have referred to telephone-based operators such as sportsbooks.
- No Curaçaoan could become a player with the licensee. A foreign player participating in the licensee’s gaming services would be deemed to have visited Curaçao for the purpose,
- The license is non-transferable.
The ordinance was signed by the Governor, the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Home Affairs. Serious stuff.
At this point there is no mention of Master and Sub-Licenses; only the one single license.
I think some of the sportsbooks were located
(Thanks Google!). Some satellite dishes are in the bottom-right of the photo.
A number of phone-line sportsbooks were set up and housed in a sort of free trade zone where the phone-line sportsbook operators located themselves.
They all used satellite dishes to receive US sports information, with data coming from Las Vegas.
In 1996, Curaçao formed a regulatory framework and began offering licenses. The licenses would become known as Master Licenses.
Again, no mention of the internet or online gambling at this point.
There were initially two master licenses issued (three more later on) and the holders started to issue sub-licenses from 1996 onwards. The first online website was launched in 1997, the name is unclear.
I visited Curaçao in 1996 with Detlef Train (my boss) when Intertops was searching for an online sportsbook and casino license. We met with some flamboyant lawyers and visited some suitable locations where we could set up shop.
Master licenses are not a possibility we learned. And we didn’t really want a sub-license as it felt like you were not totally in control of your business. It was the early days and things just felt a bit iffy.
Our fears only increased when we were due to meet the chief of police for a meeting, But he couldn’t make it because he – himself – was arrested!
So, that’s why Intertops decided to locate their offshore office in Antigua.
The general conditions that an operator as a sub-licensee would need to comply with are specified by the master license holder. And regulated by the same.
A sub-license was only valid as long as the master license was. A master license was valid for 5 – 10 years. If the master license holder were to lose its license, all related sub-licensees will also lose their licenses.
Although this arrangement proved to be unattractive to the pioneer software companies and to Intertops, the sub-license with its simple application process and minimal requirements proved generally very popular with operators. There are now around 1,200 gambling websites licensed in Curaçao.
In 2024, Curaçao will change the master license / sub-license arrangement. New licensees will obtain their licenses directly from the Gaming Control Board, while the old licenses will not be renewed and will gradually expire.
