WILLEMSTAD - Minister of Finance Kenneth Gijsbertha has visited ICE London from 3 to 6 February 2020 as part of the restructuring and optimization of the Curacao gambling sector at the invitation of the Gaming Control Board. ICE London is the largest conference and tradeshow in the field of gambling.
The more than 35,000 visitors to ICE London can use this platform to discover the latest innovations in all gambling-related sectors. With more than 9,000 gaming service providers and more than 150 countries represented on the exhibition floor, this tradeshow offers an unparalleled and global platform for finding new business and partnership opportunities.
With ICE VOX, ICE London also offers a wide range of training options. Through the special "International Legislator's Agenda", the delegation was able to network and exchange ideas with policymakers, legislators and regulators from other countries.
On 15 February 2019, Minister Gijsbertha appointed the Gaming Control Board as the supervisor of all games of chance regarding compliance with the National Ordinance on Reporting Unusual Transactions and the National Ordinance Identification for Services.
The supervision of compliance with the National Ordinance on Extra-Hazard Games and the authority to grant permits will also be placed with the Gaming Control Board in the short term.
In November 2019, the World Forum of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) qualified Curaçao as "Largely Compliant" because it meets international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.
The system of territoriality for profit tax introduced by Minister Gijsbertha on 1 January 2020 and approved by the European Union and the OECD also offers economic opportunities for Curaçao and now also stakeholders within the international gaming industry who settle in Curaçao with a real presence and in sufficient numbers. Providing employment to local people and investing in substance will be able to make use of the exclusion of foreign profits from income tax.
Minister Gijsbertha:
"The gambling sector and the gambling policy must be modernized so that people who want to use it locally or online can do so with a legal and reliable provider. The combination of adequate regulation, transparency and the fiscal system of territoriality and substance, offer enormous opportunities for Curaçao to develop this sector into an important economic pillar. "
The aim of Minister Gijsbertha to realize the integral regulation and supervision of the entire gambling sector in and from Curaçao with great vigor is both to protect the player and the legal gambling provider and to prepare Curaçao for the Mutual Evaluation in 2022 by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) as soon as possible.
In addition, improved regulation of the gaming sector will position Curaçao internationally as a reliable and transparent jurisdiction and promote economic growth in the form of direct and indirect employment, local substance and foreign currency generation.
On the photo: Minister Gijsbertha and the Curaçao delegation members during ICE London
