According to the publicly available information and our communications with local agents, the licensing regime is currently structured as follows:
The actual agreement (sublicence) is essentially an IP Agreement (Information Provider Agreement as described by the local agent) and the activities under this agreement will be carried out under the umbrella of the licensor’s gaming master licence. The following jurisdictions are currently forbidden to target: Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, France, Netherlands, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, and the USA. A licensee agrees not to operate in these countries and is responsible for compliance with local and international laws and the potential impact these laws might have on the admission of players from other jurisdictions.
The Three Party Agreement confirms the “recognition” of the Subsidiary by the licensor, which allows such Subsidiary to open a European bank account and accept payments from clients under the sublicence.
On 2 November 2020, Curacao and the Netherlands signed a package of agreements, including an agreement to reform the gaming industry licensing system. It is expected that as part of the implementation of this package, the issuance of master licences will be resumed and their use under sublicence agreements will be prohibited. The plan is that all companies with sublicence agreements will have to apply for a master licence to continue operating online casinos.
The company typically will be set up as a gaming company operating in the international market. Generally, the registration of a company and obtaining of a sublicence takes around 3 months. Considering that there are currently some changes being made to the legislation and the company set-up procedure, it is recommended to seek additional advice.
The process begins with the provision of:
The application and costs to acquire a gaming sublicence (signing the so-called IP Agreement) is the next stage. The applicant (Curacao company) will need to provide all relevant information about the owners and applications/software used on their website and send it to the company holding the ML.
At this stage, in addition to the “normal” KYC information (the documents listed above.), it is necessary to submit:
To validate and recognize the licence, the licensee will be provided with a unique licence seal. One seal is included in the licence fee. Additional seals (if licensee wants to have a different seal for each brand) are charged for additionally on an annual basis.
The law stipulates/assumes that the operations and servers (or part thereof) are (all) in Curacao, which is the basis for the licensing. We suggest hosting the server in E-Commerce Park, Curacao.
E-Commerce Park (ECP) can source and procure either new or refurbished hardware on the client’s instructions (CPU; RAM; HDD; RAID; OS). Clients can also purchase servers themselves.
To get an estimate of the monthly datacentre collocation/services and set-up costs, the client is required to fill in a Services Order Form.
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Services
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Fees (EUR)
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Company Incorporation and Administration
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Checking the client’s compliance with AML requirements – policy of the local service provider (master licence holder) (non-refundable amount, payable once at the beginning)
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2 500
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Total cost of incorporation (including preparation and provision of original constitutive documents of the company)
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4 850
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Government fees:
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- registration with the Curacao Financial Investigation Unit (FIU) (one-time)
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450
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- registration with the Curacao Chamber of Commerce & Industry (annually)
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65
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- CRS/FATCA registration (annually)
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250
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Nominee director (for 1 year)
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5 500 + time spent
(rate of EUR 250 - 550) |
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Preparation of documents for sublicence application (including application fee)
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2 500
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Sublicence fee (for 2 URLs) (annually)
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9 500
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Additional URLs (starting from the 3rd) (annually)
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3 500
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Server equipment rent and maintenance (for 1 year)
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from 24 129
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Preparation and submission of dormant financial statements
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1 500
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Preparation and submission of non-dormant financial statements
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100 – 400 / hour
(depending on time spent) |
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Compliance fee
Payable in the cases of: - incorporation of a company, |
350 (standard rate, includes the check of 1 individual),
+ 150 for each additional individual (director, shareholder, or beneficial owner) or legal entity (director or shareholder) if such legal entity is administered by GSL, + 200 for each additional legal entity (director or shareholder) if such legal entity is not administered by GSL, 450 (rate for high-risk companies, includes the check of 1 individual), 100 (signing of documents) |
[1] The fees are valid as of March 2024, they are indicative and subject to adjustment based on the client’s business model.