Curaçao gaming regulator seeks answers amid claims of criminal investigation by prosecutors

The Curaçao Gaming Authority has asked the government to clarify whether it is the target of a criminal probe, after the island’s financial supervisor suggested prosecutors are investigating the regulator responsible for implementing the new National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK).

The regulator tasked with overhauling Curaçao’s gambling regime has been pushed into the spotlight after a financial oversight body indicated it may be under investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (Openbaar Ministerie, OM). In a letter dated 27 November 2025, the Curaçao and Sint Maarten Financial Supervision Board (Cft) told the Finance Ministry it “understands that the Public Prosecution Service is conducting an investigation into the CGA,” and noted that the Criminal Investigation Cooperation Team (RST) had been assigned to the case.

Local newspaper Antilliaans Dagblad first reported on the letter at the end of November, triggering questions about the scope and status of the alleged probe. In response, the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) has formally written to Justice Minister Shalten Hato stating it has received no official notification of any criminal investigation and requesting urgent clarification from the government.

The situation has been complicated by conflicting public statements. While the Cft’s correspondence points to an ongoing investigation, some senior officials have publicly downplayed or disputed that prosecutors are actively probing the regulator, prompting further uncertainty about who controls the narrative around Curaçao’s gambling reforms. Industry media, citing local sources, report that any inquiry would center on “signals of irregularities” within the CGA, but no formal charges or detailed allegations have been made public.

The CGA was created out of the former Gaming Control Board (GCB) and formally designated as the island’s central gambling regulator when the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK) entered into force in December 2024. The reform was designed to replace Curaçao’s widely criticized master-licence system with a more transparent, internationally credible framework, strengthening supervision, AML controls and player protection.

This latest governance dispute comes on top of the resignation of the CGA’s supervisory board in mid-September, a change the authority insisted would not affect its licensing and oversight activities. However, the suggestion of a criminal investigation at such an early stage in the new regime has raised concerns among operators and advisers who rely on Curaçao licences for international operations.

For now, the regulator continues to insist that its work under the LOK is proceeding as normal while it awaits an official response from the government and prosecutors. But until the authorities provide a clear, consistent account of whether an investigation exists, the episode risks undermining one of the reform’s core goals: restoring confidence in Curaçao as a stable, well-regulated gambling hub.