Curaçao urged repeatedly to crack down on online casinos targeting Australians

Offshore gambling companies have been banned from targeting Australians. A large portion of the almost 1,000 websites blocked by the watchdog were licensed in Curaçao, off the coast of Venezuela, which has become a hub for online casinos due to limited oversight.

An Australian Communications and Media Authority (Acma) spokesperson said the agency had discussed its “investigations into individual services licensed in Curaçao” on six occasions since a June meeting with the regulator to “establish contact”.

"ACMA engages with overseas regulatory bodies for the purposes of assisting with our enforcement and disruption efforts against illegal services,” the spokesperson said.

“In relation to Curaçao, we have written to them about individual services licensed in their jurisdiction and about updates on the Curaçao regulatory framework”.

The June meeting was prompted by an Acma complaint to Curaçao’s finance minister, Javier Silvania, which accused about 90 online casinos of continuing to target Australian consumers despite warnings they had breached the law.

Since then, Acma has blacklisted more than two dozen gambling websites also based in Curaçao. Some remain online, describing themselves as “the best Australian online casino website” and offer “welcome bonuses” of up to $2,650. Others with Australian landing pages offer “20 free spins” or bonuses worth 75% of an initial deposit.

Currently, Curaçao has four master gambling licence holders that provide sub-licences to hundreds of offshore operators. There is little oversight of this process and a lack of transparency about who owns the sub-licences and where they are physically based. Acma believes the companies are also unaccountable.

“In each case, we have contacted the operator and relevant master licence holder regarding the contravention,” an Acma official told Silvania in May last year. “As at date of this letter, these services continue to contravene the Australian [Interactive Gaming Act] by providing prohibited gambling services to Australians.”

Curaçao is in the process of overhauling the online gambling industry and a new entity, the Curaçao Gaming Authority, will soon grant licences based on a company’s track record. Master licence holders will no longer be able to sub-license for a fee.

“We are continuing to explore further regulatory collaboration with overseas gambling regulators and would welcome any opportunity to engage with the Curaçao Gaming Authority once established, to share information or coordinate action against the provision of online gambling services in breach of Australian laws,” the letter from Acma said.

In response, the Curaçao Gaming Control Board said it was willing to collaborate with the Australian regulator and insisted “we take these breaches very seriously and will do all that is possible to stop them”.

An Acma summary of the June meeting, first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, said Curaçao authorities had listened to their complaints.

“They confirmed that contraventions by operators in other jurisdictions such as Australia would be taken into account when assessing the suitability of a licensee under the new regime,” an Acma email obtained under freedom of information laws said.

“It will be mandatory for licensees to have in place dispute resolution mechanisms in place for affected customers, such as Australians.”

The Curaçao regulator will assume greater control and oversight of licences from 31 March, according to a nine-page update supplied to the online gambling industry earlier this month.

“The Curaçao Gaming Control Board is committed to keeping the remote gaming industry free from crime and ensuring that licence holders act in a fair and transparent manner and protect the vulnerable players, including minors,” the CGCB update said.

“Applicants and licence holders are expected to demonstrate reasonable efforts to secure compliance with law and financial sanctions guidelines in the countries where their services are accessed.”