Best casinos with a Curaçao licence
When gambling first hit the internet in 1996, Curaçao quickly seized its opportunity to grant licenses for online casinos. This has given the Caribbean country a major advantage over other countries in the world as it’s been able to successfully market itself as a gambling authority. But more and more people around the globe have started doubting Curaçao’s authority in the field of online gambling.
As this concerns a growing number of Canadian players as well, Vernons is here to give you a better understanding of everything concerning casinos that work with this highly criticised licence. Below you can read more about these Curaçao eGaming licenses, about their reliability, how licences are issued and what kind of regulations are carried out by their respective organisations based on this small, tropical island in the Caribbean.
What explains Curaçao’s popularity among online casinos?
We have to say, there are quite a few convincing reasons why online casinos are interested in a Curacao eGaming license and we can’t really blame operators for preferring a Curaçao licence over others. To start with, opting for a Curaçao licence is highly attractive for companies that offer online activities as there is only a 2 percent tax which is significantly lower than in other jurisdictions around the world. The Carribean island also enjoys a rather favourable geographical location, and is easily accessible for companies that are based in North America. Although licences are now granted in pretty much all European countries, a lot of online operators still favour licences from Curaçao as:
Bitcoins casinos are widely accepted in Curaçao
As opposed to the gambling licence issued by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), Curaçao does accept online casinos that allow cryptocurrency, which is why operators that want to get the most out of crypto, have massively head to the Caribbean or the UK as the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) also grants licences to bitcoin casinos. A Curaçao licence opens up more significant avenues for a crypto oriented gaming platform which is one of the reasons that operators prefer to get a licence there instead of in other countries.
Licenses in Curaçao are relatively cheap alternative
The final cost of gambling licence depends on many factors and can vary according to the services an operator wants to offer.
- One-time fee: in most cases the initial fee will stick at 20,000 EUR which is around 28,000 CAD. Compared to other jurisdictions, this price is very affordable, especially for newer companies that have just entered the market. A Curaçao gambling license allows one to open an account at a European bank branch and seamlessly connect every reliable payment system to the online casino.
- Yearly fee: another reason why it is interesting for companies to opt for a sub-license from Curaçao is the relatively low yearly fee. The costs for a license issued are highly attractive as the average cost is between 2,000 EUR (2,800 CAD) and €8,000 (11,400 CAD) per month.
Are casinos from Curaçao considered safe?
We are fully aware of the fact that a licence from Curaçao is considered somewhat dodgy by some and we agree there are safer alternatives out there. This doesn’t imply, however, that every casino that holds a licence from Curaçao needs to be considered dubious. There are plenty of casinos that perform excellently on an international scale and are operated by experienced and highly skilled companies. Among these casinos are websites that have been around since the very beginning that online gambling was launched and have never changed their licence, while others prefer a licence from Curacao because they want to be able to give customers the opportunity to wager their stakes in crypto. And hey, a tax of as low as 2% is also a very valid reason to stick to Curaçao.
Special attention required
The only thing you’ll need to know is that you’re somewhat dependent on the goodwill of the company behind the casino as there is no gambling authority or whatsoever to count on in case of any disputes. Checking out casino reviews and gathering information about the ownership of the casino will make you recognise a trustworthy casino while Vernons also makes sure to only include reputable casinos on its website. Sticking to the Canadian casino websites that are featured on our site will avoid you joining any dubious casino.
4 common misconceptions about the Curaçao licence
Not everyone is familiar with the small island of Curaçao and this unfamiliarity often stretches to the gambing licence too as most players will have some difficulties relating a licence to a country they don’t know a lot about. This is why we’ll start with a brief overview of Curaçao before moving on to some of the most common misconceptions about the Curaçao licence.
About Curaçao
Curaçao is a small island that is situated in the Southern Caribbean Sea with just over 165,000 inhabitants. The island was part of the Netherlands Antilles from 1954 to 2010 and is now an independent country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is, however, not a province of the Netherlands, nor is it part of the European Union. In 2002, Curaçao started issuing online gambling licences, positioning itself as an easygoing gambling destination where operators from all around the world could simply obtain a licence as long as they located themselves on the island and had the financial means to pay for the application and yearly maintenance. This approach turned out to be very successful as a lot of casinos decided to move their branch to the island. This was particularly the case for casinos that are not predominantly Europe-oriented and are therefore satisfied with alternative licences such as the one offered in Curaçao.
Following this policy gives them quite a unique approach leading to a few common misconceptions about licences that are granted in Curaçao, some of them being:
Misconception 1: there is only one Curaçao license
One of the most common misunderstandings is that there is only one Curaçao licence. Well, there’s not — there are multiple. In fact, there are even four of them:
- 365/JAZ from Gaming Curaçao.
- 1668/JAZ of Curaçao eGaming.
- 5536/JAZ from Curaçao Interactive Licensing N.V
- 8048/JAZ from Antillephone.
As you can imagine, this does create some difficulties in understanding how the licencing application process works in Curaçao. A lot of operators only list the country of Curaçao in their footer to easen things up for visitors. In the end, it doesn’t make much of a difference as you’re about to find out.
Misconception 2: permits are issued by Curaçao government
Curaçao works with so-called e-zones which basically means that operators only pay a tax rate of 2 percent as long as they meet a number of conditions. The permits to offer services from an e-zone are not granted by the government, but by private companies. The advantage for operators is that the applicants aren’t as strictly evaluated as these companies issue the licences on payment, not on assessment. The local businesses that sell the licences for the e-zones are commercial parties and have no regulatory position.
Misconception 3: it’s a real gambling license
Well it’s not. Technically speaking, the licenses on Curaçao are not gaming licenses. There are e-zone permits that allow you to operate within the e-zone as we mentioned above. The master licensees that sell these permits are so-called Internet Service Providers and grant so-called IP licenses. According to the gambling law of June 8, 1993 the Governor of Curaçao may grant licenses for offering games of chance to be offered on the international market via service line services. This definition refers to “online” or “Internet” gambling and the funny sound to it comes from an era that most people had never heard of the internet. There has been quite a fierce debate on the usage of this licence as most operators obtain permission in Curaçao to offer their services elsewhere.
Misconception 4: official Supervisor
Another common misunderstanding is that an official governmental body audits casinos that hold a license in Curaçao. This is, unfortunately, not the case. There is a local authority, the Curaçao Gaming Control Board, that is often assumed to have this responsibility, but the truth is that this organisation only regulates land-based casinos in the country. This authority does not have the power to assess online casinos and online bookmakers. Online operators referring to this Control Board are therefore not referring to the right organisation. The sad truth is that there is no authority to refer to as there is none. All licences are purchased from private businesses.
Our selection of Curaçao casinos: checked and hand picked
This doesn’t mean, however, that there are no strong casinos that hold a licence from Curaçao. There are still lots of trustworthy organisations that aren’t from Europe and therefore have moved to Curaçao as North America has been lacking behind in terms of legalising online gambling. All of the Canadian casinos with a Curaçao licence recommended by Vernons therefore should give you at least the same experience of a casino that is headquartered in the UK or in Malta. We still work with the same performance metrics and will only include casino websites that can be considered as fully reliable. This is why we only recommend casinos that:
- Are owned by a trustworthy company: as the private companies in Curaçao don’t give this criterion as much as attention as they should, we tend to put some extra effort into tracking down the owners background. This means we take a closer look at sister companies, especially when it concerns websites that were recently launched.
- Offer a big and varied game portfolio: at Vernons we believe it’s one of our key responsibilities to test a casino’s portfolio as this is one of the main reasons most players switch to online casinos instead of heading to a land based venue. This is why we let our dedicated team of casino professionals check the casino’s online and live lobby and evaluate this in terms of quantity, quality, and user friendliness.
- Give you a user friendly platform: speaking of which. A trustworthy website is clearly one of the most important building blocks of an online casino, but it’ll need to be as graphically appealing as safe as most players are visually oriented and want to play at a website that navigates well and looks even better.
- Welcome you with great bonuses: one of the main advantages of online casinos over offline casinos is that they offer great promos. Sticking to a casino from Curaçao will probably give you a great deal as well, as most casino sites that hold a licence from Curaçao are globally oriented and thus offer international bonuses. In order to only feature promos that are valid in Canada we make sure to check the bonus terms and conditions and only list the latest and best casino bonuses. Some of the deals you’ll find on our website are exclusively meant for our visitors so make sure to get the most out of these promotions.
- Process payments with the most advanced banking options: the good thing about the licence from Curaçao is that it’s fully internationally oriented, meaning there are lots of payment methods available. This also holds for crypto currency like Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin. As both operators and players have discovered crypto currency, more websites have started to offer deposits and withdrawals with crypto. The Curaçao licence accepts crypto currencies which isn’t the case (yet) for a lot of Europe oriented gambling licences.
- Offer mobile play: we can’t really live without a mobile app or at least an optimised website that allows us to play on the go. All of the websites offer a comparable gaming experience for mobile users, offering most of the games available on the desktop site and a trouble free platform on a mobile device.
If you want to find the best online casinos with Curaçao’s license, please go ahead and visit our dedicated casino reviews page. We promise that finding the best casinos from Curaçao available today has just become a lot easier as we’ve done all the hard work so you don’t have to. All of our casinos are handpicked and available to players based in Canada.
Curaçao Licence vs other licences
As one of the first official gambling authorities in the market, they have managed to position themselves as one of the world’s leading organisations and this is pretty impressive considering the completely different approach that is followed in Curacao. About 40% of the online casino companies you’ll find on the internet hold a license in Curaçao which is why we can’t really do without this licence in the online casino industry — despite all the criticism. Do note that the licence in Curaçao is mainly owned by smaller gambling companies as the global European online casinos prefer to stick to Malta, the UK, or even both. This is due to different reasons with the focus on locally oriented target markets clearly being one of them. If you’re looking to join a global casino brand, a Curaçao casino might not be your cup of tea, but in case you prefer to stick to some smaller websites, you’ll have plenty of options.
Curaçao licence compared to other licences
Compared to other licences in the gaming market like the ones issued in Malta, Gibraltar, or the UK, the Curaçao licence definitely has a few ifs, ands and buts about it. What makes the Curaçao licence stand out is that it’s easy to obtain for operators which is an advantage to casinos, but not necessarily very comforting for players as there is no one there to audit them like in most European countries. Then again, casinos from Curaçao do accept payments and withdrawals made with crypto currencies which more and more players consider a good reason to join a casino from Curaçao. Gambling authorities like the UK Gambling Commission have started to accept crypto as well and this might happen in Malta in the future. And when that happens, a lot of other gaming authorities are expected to follow making a licence from Curaçao lose one of its most important benefits.
Alternative licences around the world
If you’re not much into crypto we suggest you stick to casinos that hold a licence from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC), Gibraltar Betting and Gaming Association (GBGA), or the Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission.
Do note that some casinos that work with these licences aren’t available for Canadian users which does tend to be the case with operators from Curaçao. As a general rule of thumb we would stress the importance of being a bit more careful with casinos from Curaçao and only stick to the websites that have good reviews. Vernons is here to help you out on this one so your best bet is to stick to the casinos we have featured on our site.
Pros and cons of casinos from Curaçao
That’s it, we’ve had our say about casinos from Curaçao and as you’ve noticed we do frankly believe this casino licence comes with a few drawbacks you’ll need to consider. There are also some important advantages such as the option to deposit and withdraw money with crypto currency. Altogether this brings us to the following pros and cons:
Pros
- One of the first countries to grant licences.
- Casinos in Curaçao accept crypto currencies.
- Wide range of payment solutions available.
- Curaçao casinos offer bonuses to Canadian users as well.
- Most Curaçao casinos are accessible in Canada.
Cons
- Licences are paid for instead of earned.
- Popular licence among startups.
- Curaçao licences aren’t audited, at all.
- There is no official gambling authority to address.
FAQ Curaçao casinos
Are casinos with a Curaçao licence safe?
Let’s say it depends. There are plenty of casinos with a licence from Curaçao that perform well and offer an excellent service, but there are a lot of startups too that require some extra attention. Casinos listed by Vernons can always be considered safe.
What are the best Curaçao casinos in Canada?
The licence from Curaçao is one of the most popular licences available which is why there are lots of excellent casinos that work with this licence. Most of them are accessible in Canada and if you’re looking for the best options available for Canadian players, you have come to the right place. Vernons has listed nothing but the very best online casinos.
Are casinos with a licence from Curaçao available in Canada?
Yes, although the licence isn’t granted by a Canadian authority, most casino websites are available to Canadian users. All the casinos you’ll find listed on our site are accessible in Canada as this licence is considered one of the most internationally oriented options.
Do casinos with a Curaçao licence offer bonuses?
Yes, casinos in Curaçao are known to offer lots of bonuses and a lot of casinos even give players special crypto bonuses. We made sure to pick all the best bonuses available for Canadian players. This includes welcome packages, cashbacks, free spins, reload bonuses and other deals. As we frequently update this list, we recommend you visit this page every now and then so you make sure you don’t miss out on any good bonuses.
