WILLEMSTAD – The controversy surrounding leaked documents from the Curaçao Gaming Authority did not begin with the current regulator. It is the latest chapter in a gambling system that developed over approximately three decades with remarkably limited direct government supervision.
An investigation by Follow the Money traces the roots of Curaçao’s present online gambling industry back to the 1990s.
For decades, the Curaçao government granted master licenses to a small group of private companies. Those companies were subsequently able to issue sublicenses to online gambling operators serving customers around the world.
The result was effectively a privately administered international licensing system with little direct state supervision.
The model proved enormously attractive to international operators.
FTM reports that Curaçao became home to thousands of gambling websites, including operators that were unable or unwilling to obtain licenses in the countries where their customers were located.
The Curaçao license did not itself authorize a gambling company to operate in another country. But it provided operators with a corporate and regulatory foothold and access to an established network of trust offices, payment providers and gambling software companies.
By the 2000s, according to the historical timeline compiled by FTM, the industry was expanding rapidly while government oversight remained limited. Even the number of gambling websites operating under Curaçao licenses was unknown.
International pressure subsequently increased.
By 2018, the Dutch Gambling Authority was highlighting the scale of the problem, while regulators elsewhere in Europe were also raising concerns about Curaçao-linked operators serving markets without the necessary local licenses.
Previous Follow the Money reporting based on Dutch government documents found that officials in the Netherlands had become concerned that Curaçao’s gambling industry could damage the international reputation of the Kingdom.
That earlier reporting focused in part on 1xBet and other operators accused of serving jurisdictions where they lacked authorization.
Pressure from the Netherlands eventually contributed to a fundamental restructuring of Curaçao’s system.
In 2024, Curaçao adopted new gambling legislation and moved away from the decades-old master-license structure. The reform created direct state supervision through what is now the Curaçao Gaming Authority.
The objective was clear: bring an industry that had largely regulated itself under direct government oversight.
But the new Casino Secrets investigation argues that changing the legal structure has not automatically resolved the underlying problems.
According to leaked records examined by FTM, Curaçao-licensed gambling companies continue to attract regulatory action abroad. More importantly, FTM says its investigation found cases in which licenses were issued despite unresolved questions about ownership and corporate structures.
The Curaçao Gaming Authority does not deny that licenses were granted while some questions remained unresolved.
Instead, it says the industry is going through a transition.
According to the regulator, authorities deliberately decided not to impose all requirements of the new legislation simultaneously. Companies were instead given an opportunity to meet the new standards progressively.
That defense illustrates how Curaçao’s gambling debate has changed.
For years, criticism centered on the absence of direct government regulation.
Direct regulation now exists.
The question in 2026 is whether that regulation is sufficiently rigorous.
The answer will matter well beyond the gambling industry. Curaçao licenses are used by companies serving customers across the world, meaning failures involving those companies can quickly become international reputational issues for the island itself.
The new law ended the old system.
The leaked records raise a more difficult question: whether Curaçao has also ended the regulatory culture that developed under it.
Source: Follow the Money, “Curaçao’s secretive gambling industry exposed in leak,” David Davidson, Sjors Hofstede and Lukas Kotkamp, with reporting by Dick Drayer in Curaçao. Additional background from previous Follow the Money reporting on Curaçao and 1xBet.