If an iGaming destination has a Curaçao casino license, you might want to consider playing somewhere else.

While I’m sure Curaçao itself is a lovely place (images I’ve seen of the Dutch Caribbean island country are gorgeous!), what I’ve read about its online casino regulations is anything but lovely.

Although not the only iGaming jurisdiction with a less than glowing rep as a license issuer and regulator, Curaçao is one of the most notorious. Even if I did choose to gamble online with a VPN (a topic I covered last week that you can read here), I wouldn’t play at an offshore site with a Curaçao online casino license, and this post is all about why.

Top 3 Reasons Why Playing at Curaçao Casinos Isn’t Worth It

The following are the three main reasons why playing at an iGaming destination with a Curaçao casino license has never been (and will never be) on my to-do list.

1 – Too many blacklisted casinos

One of the top reasons is that tens of thousands (possibly more) of Curaçao-based online gambling companies have been blacklisted over the years.  

To give this number greater context, according to 2021 report from VIXIO (a Regulatory Technology platform specializing in removing the risk of non-compliance in the payments and gambling industries), almost 40% of all blacklisted companies in 18 countries (across Europe and Australia) are traceable to a Curaçao address.

According to the VIXIO article, Follow the Money (a non-for-profit Dutch investigative journalism platform that used VIXIO Gambling Compliance data) examined 150,000 sites in 2021 that had been blacklisted in the 18 countries. Its investigation revealed that the locations of 910 different companies with blacklisted websites in those counties could be traced and 350 (38.5%) of them had Curaçao addresses. According to Follow the Money, those 350 companies that could be traced to the island nation own approximately 1,000 operators and those operators run an estimated 12,000 websites.

That’s bananas!🫢

Reasons a casino may be blacklisted

There are different reasons why a casino might be blacklisted. That said, the most common reasons (many of which apply to blacklisted Curaçao casinos) include:

• Carless age verification or no KYC checks at all
• Pirate software (gaining illegal access to protected software)
• Ignoring national gambling regulations (e.g. eCOGRA)
• Unfair terms and conditions
• Withholding players’ winnings or confiscating winnings entirely
• Selling player information to third parties
• Little or no security

2 – It’s too easy for an operator to get a Curaçao casino license

For years, a Curaçao gaming license has been a preferred choice among businesses seeking to jump on the lucrative online casino bandwagon. The reasons being:

• A Curaçao casino license is cheap.
• The process to obtain one is quick.
• Taxes are minimal.

The lax regulations and licencing standards and the fact that it’s easy to obtain a sub-license form one of the four master license holders, means that anyone – regardless of their business practices – can get one. If you want to find out more about how easy it is for an operator to get a Curaçao gaming license, you can learn more about it as this helpful site I found – Casinovate.

3 – Players are not treated fairly and may have their money stolen

There is no regulated time frame for when Curaçao casino operators must pay winnings out to players. Curaçao casinos have been known not to help players resolve disputes, steal players’ money, and shutdown without warning.

As the iGaming industry grew, and governments became stricter with online gambling, many countries increasingly becoming aware of Curaçao’s relative lack of gambling oversight and poor customer treatement. As such, Curaçao casinos started being blacklisted. Today, many countries across Europe and North America block operators with a Curaçao online casino license from being accessible to their citizens.

Garnering a bad reputation also means that many banks, financial institutions, and online casino software providers will not partner with Curaçao online casinos. Since that’s the case, this means that the available games and payment options can be limited.

With all that said – on a positive note – I did read that Curaçao is currently working on overhauling its online gambling regulatory system. Changes were supposedly implemented in the fall of last year (2023). If you’d like to learn more about that, I found this EM Group article covered the main highlights of the new online gaming legislation.

Why are curaçao casinos still around?

You might be wondering if Curaçao casinos are so terrible, why are they still around?

Many operators with a Curaçao online casino license will often accept any player, regardless of where that player is physically located. This makes it easy for players anywhere around the world to access them. Easy access and lack of verification checks is exactly what some players want. The trouble is that these players don’t often realize the enormous risk that comes from playing at a site that lacks regulatory guidelines.

Many Curaçao license casino sites offer cryptocurrency. This, along with lack of KYC checks, allows players to be highly anonymous. The problem, of course, is that this privacy doesn’t guarantee a safe and responsible gaming environment.

That said, I do want to point out that not every single operator that has a Curaçao online casino license is bad. There are still some reputable operators out there. The trouble is, of course, it’s not always easy to tell the good ones from the bad ones. This is one of the main reasons why I don’t think it’s worth the risk to play at Curaçao casinos.

Alternative offshore regulators better than Curaçao

If you’re an online casino player from Ontario, I believe it’s always in your best interest to play at an online casino with an iGaming Ontario license.  Playing at sites regulated by official governing bodies in your region – especially if available – offers you the fairest experience and the best protection.

That said, if you’re not in Ontario, where you play isn’t regulated, or you just want to play somewhere that has specific games or other perks you like, a better choice would be to play at offshore online casinos licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).

Why? The short answer is that MGA has one of the best reputations in the iGaming industry. The long answer, well, that might be a post for another day, if inspiration strikes (or you can let me know in the comments or on my social media if you’d like me to share my thoughts on it 😁).

What do you think of Curaçao online casinos? Have you had good luck, bad luck, or – like me – have you just avoided them because after reading some scary research and player stories, you decided it’s just not worth the risk?

Until next time, good luck and have fun.

Mia 👩‍💻

*All links and images in this post are for informational purposes only.  I’m not affiliate with any companies/businesses mentioned in this post.