Curaçao
Does the operator hold a licence issued directly by the CGA under the new ordinance?
Curaçao replaced the master-and-sub-licence arrangement it was known for with direct licensing under a new gaming ordinance and a statutory regulator. The reputational shorthand — that a Curaçao licence means light-touch — is out of date, and relying on it is now a diligence failure rather than a cost saving.
Metaverse Casino holds no gambling licence and offers no wagering. This site publishes regulatory reference material only.
Nothing here is legal advice. Positions are dated, sourced to the regulator, and revised by publishing a new assessment rather than by editing an old one.
The substance
01What changed
The National Ordinance on Games of Chance (LOK) established the Curaçao Gaming Authority as a statutory regulator issuing licences directly, ending the system in which four master licensees resold sub-licences with little supervision. Applicants face substance, AML and player-protection requirements a sub-licence never imposed.
02Why it matters for in-world venues
A large share of crypto-funded gaming ran on Curaçao sub-licences precisely because nobody looked closely. Any virtual-world venue inheriting that model is inheriting an arrangement that no longer exists, and a due-diligence answer that stopped being true.
03What it still does not give you
A Curaçao licence has never authorised serving players in Great Britain, Ontario or New Jersey, and does not now. It governs the operator; it does not answer the player-location question that every one of those markets asks first.
Sources: Curaçao Gaming Authority · Landsverordening op de kansspelen (LOK). Dated 2026-08-28; superseded by publishing a new assessment.
The three questions this regime resolves into
A world has no jurisdiction. A person does.
The test is redemption, not denomination.
The hardest unsolved problem on this page.
The other jurisdictions
| Jurisdiction | On virtual worlds | The test it applies |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Adjacent | Is a person in Great Britain being given facilities to gamble? |
| Malta | Adjacent | Is a licensable game type being supplied from Malta? |
| Isle of Man | Adjacent | Is the gambling conducted from equipment situated in the Isle of Man? |
| Ontario | Silent | Is the player physically in Ontario at the moment of play? |
| New Jersey | Silent | Is the wager placed by a player physically in New Jersey and accepted on approved equipment in the state? |
| Curaçao | Adjacent | Does the operator hold a licence issued directly by the CGA under the new ordinance? |
The full comparison and the status rubric: The Code.