WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao Parliament has summoned Finance Minister Charles Cooper to provide answers about a disputed XCG 8.3 million figure connected to spending by the Curaçao Gaming Authority (CGA) and work related to the island’s online gaming sector in Malta.
A public question hour has been scheduled for Thursday, October 1, at 2:00 p.m. at the Parliament building following a request from MFK Member of Parliament Ishahier Monte.
Monte wants Cooper to clarify whether the CGA actually paid XCG 8.3 million to one individual or company for work associated with Curaçao’s online gaming sector, what services were commissioned and under what legal authority the expenditure was approved.
However, information that emerged after the controversy began indicates that the XCG 8.3 million figure may not represent a payment to a single contractor at all.
Antilliaans Dagblad reported that the XCG 8.3 million appeared in the CGA’s 2026 budget and covered broader investments and expenditure associated with further implementation of the National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK). According to that reporting, it was therefore incorrect to characterize the entire amount as an annual payment to Malta-based Random Consulting Limited.
Random Consulting, headed by former Malta gaming regulator Mario Galea, has publicly disputed Cooper’s earlier description of the payments. The company says it received a total of €3,426,406 between 2022 and 2025: €15,406 in 2022, nothing in 2023, €884,250 in 2024 and €2,526,750 in 2025. Those figures are the company’s account and have not yet been replaced by findings from the planned independent investigation.
The company says its work for the CGA included developing and maintaining Curaçao’s online licensing portal, hosting and technical support, assistance with processing license applications, administration of the licensing system and development of technology for monitoring domains associated with online gaming operators. It also says the software developed under the agreement will ultimately become CGA property.
Monte nevertheless wants the government to establish exactly how much was paid, to whom, and what Curaçao received in return.
His parliamentary questions include who awarded the contract, who authorized the payments, whether a tender or other selection procedure was conducted beforehand and why work connected to the Curaçao gaming regulator was carried out from Malta.
The MP also wants the minister to provide information about the deliverables produced under the arrangement and explain how the government or CGA determined that the services provided were reasonably proportionate to the amounts paid.
The controversy has become politically sensitive because the gaming reforms were implemented largely during the tenure of former Finance Minister Javier Silvania, also of the MFK. Silvania has rejected Cooper’s earlier characterization of the XCG 8.3 million and defended the use of external expertise to construct Curaçao’s new regulatory system.
The LOK, which entered into force on December 24, 2024, replaced Curaçao’s previous online gaming framework and gave the CGA direct responsibility for licensing, supervision and enforcement.
The October 1 question hour could therefore provide the first opportunity for Cooper to formally clarify before Parliament the origin of the XCG 8.3 million figure and distinguish between the CGA’s overall LOK implementation expenditure and the amounts actually paid to Random Consulting.