Curaçao Gambling License Under the LOK: Fees, Requirements and Timeline

A Curaçao gambling license is issued by the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) to a company registered in Curaçao, under the National Ordinance on Games of Chance, known by its Dutch initials LOK and in force since 24 December 2024. This guide covers what the license costs, what the CGA requires in 2026 and from 2027, how long it takes and how it compares to Georgia's international permit.

How Curaçao Gambling Licensing Works Under the LOK

The CGA states that the LOK came into effect on 24 December 2024, after a phased reform that began in November 2023. Licenses are now granted by the CGA to each operating company, in place of the sublicenses of the old regime, and applications go through an interim online gaming portal the CGA opened on 19 October 2026.

Most of the rules that shape a license today arrived after the ordinance itself, in CGA documents published through 2025 and 2026.

B2C and B2B Licenses in Curaçao

The CGA's fee schedule lists one B2C gaming license with no separate fee for casino and sports betting, so a single license covers both. Platform and software suppliers hold a separate B2B supplier license. A B2C licensee also needs the CGA's prior approval before it contracts a gaming platform, a game or content provider, or a payment processor (Art. 2(6) of the license conditions).

So far a B2B license has been optional for companies serving Curaçao operators. The CGA's license reclassification notice ends that on 24 December 2026, after which every entity providing services to a Curaçao B2C licensee needs one.

What a Curaçao Gambling License Costs

Every government fee sits in the CGA's fee document, version 2.0 of 15 October 2025. The annual B2C fee has two parts, €24,490 to the National Treasury as the license fee and €22,960 to the CGA as the supervisory fee. A B2B supplier pays only a supervisory fee, set at €24,490.

Annual fees fall due in full by 15 January. In the first year they are charged pro rata and paid within 14 days of the grant notice, which the CGA sends to the company's local director. The fee document says the amounts may be modified by national decree, so these are the figures in force as of October 2026.

At €47,450 a year Curaçao costs about 2.7 times Anjouan's €17,828, and the question when choosing between Curaçao and Anjouan is whether the difference in the regulator's standing is worth that gap. The local company, the director, the Tier IV hosting and the compliance officers come on top, at prices set by the providers rather than the CGA.

Tax on a Curaçao Gaming Company

The CGA charges no gaming tax on gross gaming revenue. Its fee document has none, and the license conditions refer only to the license fee and other fees set under the ordinance.

Profit is taxed under Curaçao's profit tax at 15% on the first XCG 500,000 (about €250,800) and 22% above that. The system is territorial, so only Curaçao-source income is taxed, apportioned by the ratio of domestic to total direct expenses, and a reduced 3% rate for listed activities does not include gaming. A group whose staff and spending sit mostly outside Curaçao therefore has a smaller Curaçao tax base. There is no withholding tax on dividends, and Curaçao has four tax treaties.

Requirements: Company, Director, Server and Substance

A Curaçao company and a local director

Article 2(1) of the license conditions grants the license only to a company established under Curaçao law with its registered office in Curaçao. The company needs a local director, who receives the grant notice and the CGA's invoices. Changes to beneficial owners, directors or key persons, new or changed domains and new supplier relationships all need the CGA's permission first (Art. 4).

A Tier IV server in Curaçao

Critical player, game and financial data must remain accessible to the CGA through a server hosted in a Tier IV certified data center located in Curaçao (Art. 13(6)). The license itself covers the domains listed in the operator's account on the CGA portal and approved by the CGA (Art. 2(4)).

Key persons and compliance officers

Key persons under the conditions include two compliance officers, one under Curaçao's anti-money laundering ordinances (NORUT and NOIS) and one under the gaming ordinance itself (Art. 1(j)). The CGA must approve any change of key person before it takes effect.

Local substance from 1 April 2027

Article 5.12 of the LOK adds a local substance requirement. The Minister of Justice granted a general extension, and the CGA's notice of 23 January 2026 says operators will not be required to meet it before 1 April 2027. A license applied for now should carry a budget line for it from 2027.

Player funds and capital

The CGA publishes no minimum share capital or bank guarantee. The conditions instead require sufficient funds at all times to pay out prize money, with ring-fencing, and player money held in a segregated account (Art. 6(5) and 9(2)).

Crypto Under a Curaçao License

Curaçao allows crypto stakes. Under Article 9(6) to 9(8) of the conditions, virtual currencies accepted as stakes must be tradable on internationally licensed exchanges, the licensee may not exchange crypto for fiat itself, and winnings are paid in the currency played.

The CGA's Crypto Policy Guideline of June 2026 treats crypto as high risk. It prefers regulated, fiat-backed stablecoins, requires blockchain analytics, bars the licensee from acting as an exchange or virtual asset service provider and prohibits mixers and sanctioned sources. Anjouan, the Isle of Man and Tobique also write crypto into their rules, each on different terms, which makes the conditions more important than the label when choosing a crypto casino license.

Which Markets a Curaçao License Can Serve

The CGA conditions carry no list of banned countries. Article 3(1) requires the licensee to follow the laws and regulations of each jurisdiction where it offers games, and Article 3(2) keeps that duty with the licensee when work is outsourced. The restricted countries for a Curaçao operator therefore come from the target markets' own laws rather than from a CGA list.

How Long a Curaçao Gambling License Takes

The CGA publishes no processing time. Industry estimates published in 2026 range from roughly two to four months to three to six months, and none of them is a CGA commitment. The order of work is the same in every case.

1. Incorporate the Curaçao company and appoint the local director.
2. Line up the key persons, the Tier IV hosting and the supplier contracts.
3. Apply through the CGA portal and pay the €4,592 application fee plus €150 per beneficial owner.
4. Answer the CGA's due diligence questions on owners, key persons and suppliers.
5. Receive the grant notice and pay the pro-rata first-year fees within 14 days.
6. Have each platform, game and payment supplier approved before going live with it.

Curaçao Compared to Georgia's International Permit

Georgia's international permits, created by Law No. 1822 of 25 June 2026, cover online casino, slots and sports betting for players outside the country, run by a company based in Tbilisi. The table sets them side by side on the points operators weigh in any comparison of gambling licenses, as of October 2026.

Georgia's permit comes from national law and is issued by the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance, the state tax authority, which must decide within 20 days of a complete filing or the permit is deemed issued. Each permit runs for five years, and the law sets no minimum share capital.

On payments, Georgia's 2021 ban on gambling payments, in Article 13¹ of the Payments Law, applies only to foreign gambling companies and to payments by Georgian residents, so it does not stop Georgian banks and payment providers serving a Georgian-licensed operator. Georgian-licensed operators already take Visa, Mastercard and American Express deposits, with channels at TBC Bank, Bank of Georgia and Liberty Bank. Visa's rules require an online gambling merchant to hold a license and its acquirer to take merchants from its own country, a structure a Georgian permit fits, with the license, the company and a Georgian acquirer in one country.

Gambling tax in Georgia falls on revenue rather than profit, at 5% of foreign players' gross gaming revenue plus the 1% monitoring fee, with no corporate tax on profit kept in the company and 5% withheld on dividends paid abroad. Georgia's 58 tax treaties, against Curaçao's four, can bring that withholding to 0% for a parent in Malta, Cyprus or the UAE.

The costs are set per vertical. Online casino games and online slots are separate permits at about €34,400 a year each, the first year adds the platform audit and control-system integration, and the 5% tax and 1% fee are owed in loss-making months too. Georgian citizens may not play, and the permit offers no lawful crypto deposit route today.

Curaçao Gambling License FAQ