Curaçao Gaming Authority sets December 24 deadline for supplier licensing transition

The Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) has confirmed that its new supplier licensing and registration regime will take full effect on December 24, ending the two-year transition period under the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK). For operators and their PSPs, the message is simple: if a supplier is not registered, the operator is not supposed to be using it.

1. From December 24, all domestic suppliers that deliver essential goods or services to licensed operators must hold a CGA supplier licence and be registered with the authority. Foreign suppliers are exempt from licensing, but they still have to complete registration by the deadline if they provide critical inputs to CGA-licensed operators.
2. The operator-side obligation is explicit. Article 5.16(4) of the LOK prohibits licence holders from working with unregistered suppliers, while Article 5.16(1) requires the CGA to maintain a public register of approved providers. In practice, this turns supplier status into a compliance check, not a back-office detail.
3. The CGA’s definition of “critical services and goods” is broad enough to cover the parts of the stack that matter most: RNG game developers, live dealer studios, poker and peer-to-peer platforms, lottery providers, sportsbook software, bet capture and settlement systems, odds compilers, and game aggregators. The authority said the list is illustrative and may be updated.
4. To make the deadline, locally established suppliers without licences are urged to file applications through the CGA Online Gaming Portal by September 1, so there is enough time for review before the transition ends. Registration for both domestic and foreign suppliers is scheduled to open in October 2026.
5. The December 2026 cutoff closes the period in which suppliers could operate without formal CGA recognition, and it places the burden on operators to verify the registration status of their technology and service partners. For B2B providers, that means fewer excuses and more paperwork, which is usually how regulatory maturity announces itself.

Separate from the supplier rules, the CGA has also presented a framework for the use of cryptocurrency by Curaçao B2C online gambling licensees. That policy will be introduced in phases over the next 12 months and covers the full crypto transaction chain, from player deposits and wagers to withdrawals and treasury management. The regulator has also warned about EZZ.CASINO, saying it is not authorised and alleging that the site has used the CGA logo and Digital Authorisation Seal without permission.