COGA criticizes CGA hack and the coverage of the Curaçao “leak”

The Curaçao Online Gaming Association (COGA), which represents Curaçao licensees, has pushed back on both the breach of the CGA portal and the international reporting that followed. For operators and PSPs watching Curaçao, the point is not just reputational noise: it is how quickly a regulatory incident turns into a broader story about the whole licensing ecosystem.

1. COGA says journalist and security researcher Lilith Wittmann accessed the authority’s portal not as an ethical hacker, but as a fraudster using someone else’s personal data. The association also questions what public interest justifies obtaining and publishing the personal data of entrepreneurs and shareholders.
2. The association separately criticized the tone of international coverage of Curaçao’s gambling sector. In COGA’s view, the industry was again linked to money laundering and illegal activity without enough distinction between different operators.
3. COGA pointed out that Curaçao’s new gambling law, LOK, has been in force since 24 December 2024. Under that framework, CGA received licensing and supervisory powers, and the shift to the new regulatory system took the last twenty months.
4. The association’s complaint is also about timing. Its position is that current coverage does not sufficiently reflect the regulatory and enforcement changes that have already taken place on the island.

For high-risk businesses, Curaçao is one of those jurisdictions where licensing headlines and payment risk tend to travel together. When coverage collapses a specific incident, a regulator, and the whole sector into one story, PSPs and acquiring partners usually end up doing the sorting.