Curaçao License Alternative: Costs, Tax and the Move to a Georgian Permit

A Curaçao license now means a direct license from the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA), held by a Curaçao company with a local director and a Tier IV server on the island, with a local substance rule from April 2027. This post weighs Georgia's international permits, available from the Revenue Service in Tbilisi since July 2026, on cost, tax, regulator, banking and crypto, then sets out the move step by step.

Curaçao Dates That Matter for a Move

A Curaçao gambling license today is granted by the CGA under the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK) to the operating company itself. These dates decide what is left of the old setup and what staying costs from 2027.

The CGA's reclassification notice of 15 October 2025 ties the end of sublicenses to the Orange Seal's expiry that day and keeps B2B licenses optional for suppliers until 24 December 2026. Its notice of 23 January 2026 moves the substance rule to 1 April 2027.

Curaçao and Georgia Side by Side

Georgia wins on the issuer, the decision deadline and the treaty count. Curaçao wins on scope per license, term and crypto. Fees and tax turn on your verticals and margin.

Yearly License Fees: €47,450 Against €34,400 per Permit

The CGA's fee document charges €47,450 a year for a B2C license, €24,490 to the National Treasury and €22,960 to the CGA. Georgia's Law on Licence and Permit Fees charges about €34,400 a year for each international permit (Art. 7(10)), and online casino games, online slots and sports betting are separate permits.

A single-vertical operator pays less in Georgia every year, and a typical online casino, which needs the casino and slots permits, pays about €21,350 more. Year one adds one-off charges on both sides, and the cost of a Georgian license in year one includes control-system charges that the operator's contract with Random Systems Georgia fixes under a cap. Company, director, hosting and staff costs come on top in both places, at providers' prices.

Tax: 15% to 22% of Profit Against 5% of Revenue

Curaçao charges no gaming tax on revenue. Profit is taxed at 15% on the first XCG 500,000 (about €250,800) and 22% above, on Curaçao-source income only, with no withholding on dividends. Georgia taxes foreign players' gross gaming revenue at 5% a month under Article 98(5) of the Tax Code, plus 1% to Random Systems Georgia. Profit kept in the company is not taxed again, and dividends paid abroad carry 5% withholding (Art. 130(1)).

The base is the difference. Gambling tax in Georgia is owed in loss-making months too, while Curaçao's falls to zero in a loss and grows with margin, so margin and scale decide which costs less.

Treaties decide the last 5%. Georgia has 58 double tax treaties in force, according to its Ministry of Finance, and several cut dividend withholding to 0%, Malta, Cyprus and the UAE among them. Curaçao has 4 treaties and no dividend withholding to cut.

Regulator, Term and Local Substance

Georgia's permits come from national law, Law No. 1822 of 25 June 2026, and are issued by the Revenue Service of the Ministry of Finance, a state tax authority (gambling law Art. 7(1)). Under Article 26(10) of the Law on Licences and Permits it must decide within 20 days of a complete filing, or the permit is deemed issued. The CGA publishes no processing time.

Curaçao keeps the longer term, indefinite since 17 December 2025 under Article 2(2) of its license conditions, against 5 years for a Georgian permit, which cannot be transferred. Both expect presence. Curaçao wants a local director, critical data on a Tier IV server in Curaçao (Art. 13(6)) and substance from 2027; Georgia wants a management address and server infrastructure in the country.

Curaçao's regulator does not carry the doubt that drives the Anjouan question. The Central Bank of the Comoros said in a communiqué of 8 December 2025 that it does not recognise the authority behind Anjouan licenses, which makes leaving an Anjouan license more pressing than leaving Curaçao.

Banking and Card Payments

Neither license comes with a bank or merchant account. 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, judged for online sales by the merchant's principal place of business. A Georgian permit fits that structure, with license, company and a Georgian acquirer in one country; a Curaçao company run from elsewhere needs an acquirer willing to register a gambling merchant licensed abroad. We have not yet seen a Georgian bank publish terms for international permit holders, so provider answers come first in the move below.

Crypto Stays on Curaçao

Curaçao allows crypto stakes under Article 9(6) to 9(8) of its conditions, in coins tradable on internationally licensed exchanges, with winnings paid in the currency played. Its Crypto Policy Guideline of June 2026 adds blockchain analytics and a preference for regulated stablecoins.

Georgia's gambling law requires deposits and withdrawals under rules set by the Minister of Finance, and none provides for crypto, so an international permit holder has no lawful crypto deposit route today. A casino whose players deposit mostly in crypto stays on Curaçao, or keeps its crypto brand there.

Keeping Both Licenses

An operator can hold both through two companies, since the Curaçao license goes only to a Curaçao company (Art. 2(1)) and the Georgian permit only to a company registered in Georgia.

Domains decide the split. Each Georgian permit covers one website on one domain, while the Curaçao license covers the domains approved in the operator's portal account, and removing or adding one needs the CGA's prior permission (Art. 4). A brand moves by leaving the Curaçao license with that permission and going live under its own Georgian permit.

Player markets barely change. The CGA lists no banned countries, the Georgian permit bars only Georgian citizens and foreigners under 18, and each target market's own law applies under both. The practical split is by payment method, with a crypto brand on Curaçao and a card-funded brand in Georgia.

We read the law as requiring the Georgian permit for a brand managed from a Tbilisi office, whatever else it holds. Article 5(1) of the gambling law requires a Georgian permit for organising online games in Georgia, and nothing in it lets a foreign license stand in for one.

How to Move From Curaçao to Georgia, Step by Step

The Georgian side runs on published time limits; the Curaçao side ends only when every player has been paid, so both licenses stay live through the overlap.

1. Choose the verticals and one domain for each permit.
2. Ask suppliers and payment providers in writing. A Georgian operator may use games and platform products only from a holder of a Georgian supply permit (Art. 29(4)).
3. Register the Georgian company, usually the next business day, with a management address, servers in Georgia and a bank account.
4. Register on Random Systems Georgia's portal (approved within 5 days) and pay the audit fee. The audit starts within 20 days of payment and runs up to 45 days for online games, with the result within 7 days.
5. Integrate with the control system within 30 days of paying the integration fee; the authorization certificate follows within 2 days.
6. Pay the first-year permit fee and file with the Revenue Service, which decides within 20 days.
7. Launch the Georgian domain, with operator details in Georgian and English and the bar on Georgian citizens and under-18s.
8. Ask the CGA to remove the moved domains, or to revoke the Curaçao license, and wind down.

The company setup in step 3 runs alongside the audit in step 4, which is why a gambling license in Georgia takes two to four months rather than the sum of every maximum. For step 8, the revocation procedure in the CGA's reclassification notice asks for player claims, deposits, how they will be settled and any transfer of the player database, and the license stays active until every player has been paid.

Who Should Move to Georgia and Who Should Stay on Curaçao

Move, or add a Georgian permit, when:

• Cards are the business: a Georgian permit puts license, company and a Georgian acquirer in one country, the structure Visa's rules are built for.
• The product is a single vertical: a sportsbook or slots-only site pays about €34,400 a year against €47,450.
• Margins are high at scale: at €10,000,000 of GGR, Georgia's take falls below Curaçao's from about a 36% margin, or 30% with a treaty parent.
• The team is moving to Tbilisi anyway: games run from Georgia need the Georgian permit, and Tbilisi is Evolution's largest live-casino hub, with 4,813 staff in Georgia at the end of 2025 (Evolution Annual Report 2025).

Stay on Curaçao when:

• Crypto stakes are central: Georgia offers no lawful crypto route today.
• Margins are thin or revenue is small: Georgia's 5% and 1% are owed in loss-making months.
• One site runs casino, slots and betting at modest revenue: about €103,200 a year in Georgian permits against €47,450.

Curaçao License Alternative FAQ