Licensing Curaçao Master License holders get a free pass, for now.

[maxd]

While digging around for the latest news on the forthcoming changes to Curaçao licensing I ran across this article which had some interesting things to say about what the __actual__ changes to Curaçao licensing may be:

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by Roman Baranovskyi​

15 August 2023​

"... Contrary to speculation, there has been no change whatsoever to the legislation or permissions of the Master License holders since the public announcement of drafting the new legislation last November. Neither the Ministry nor Gambling Control Board has prevented the master license holders from undertaking any activity that they have been doing. In fact, Master Licensors can act at their own discretion as before. They can stop to apply new operators; they can onboard only certain operators who are deemed necessary or whatever they want. ..."​

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Of course what the Master License holders can and can't do -- and for how long -- is central to the whole issue of reform in Curaçao. It appears that the Ministry of Finance will leave the Master License holders to operate as they have been until the new laws come into effect:

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"... on the date new legislation comes into force, the Master License holders under the current law will transition automatically. All sublicensees who wish to continue business under the new regime will have three months in which to commence their application for a license under the new law. ..."​

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That said the Ministry has already announced a 1-year extension for the Master License holders and, apparently, an 18-month extension for sub-licensees to make the transition to the new state-issued licenses.

It seems that whatever real changes are planned for licensees they're going to happen at a pretty leisurely pace. And that, of course, should mean "business as usual" for players. Emphasis on the word "should".

We've seen there are proposed changes to KYC and AML procedures, not to mention the plan to geo-block certain countries and end the use of crypto currencies. Individual casinos may choose to move on these sooner than later. Experience tells us that a casino will happily adopt such policies if it benefits them, for example suddenly adopting SOW procedures for no better reason than to slow down player payments, or implementing a distorted version of GDPR procedures in order to avoid talking to anyone about player complaints.

Regardless of what special treatment the Master License holders are getting from the Ministry of Finance all Curaçao-licensed casinos are going to be under pressure in the coming months and that will undoubtedly translate into changes that will affect players. Judging when and to what extent Curaçao casino players lives will be disrupted is, for now, pure speculation.

 

[The Dude]

...
We've seen there are proposed changes to KYC and AML procedures, not to mention the plan to geo-block certain countries and end the use of crypto currencies. Individual casinos may choose to move on these sooner than later. Experience tells us that a casino will happily adopt such policies if it benefits them, for example suddenly adopting SOW procedures for no better reason than to slow down player payments, or implementing a distorted version of GDPR procedures in order to avoid talking to anyone about player complaints.
...

Just to mention that if ANY casino that is based in Curacao requests Source of Wealth documents stating it's a requirement should be fast tracked to "rogue" status. No Curacao based casino needs this.

And if they decide to disallow cyber coin casinos - that would probably be a death blow to the new and improved Curacao licensing agency. To offer BTC etc., is the ONLY reason most casino groups are listed there as far as I know. Why bother if they don't accept BTC?

 

[maxd]

I noted that the Ministry Of Finance said something to the effect that "we're not currently planning to support crypto transactions". That sounds to me like a politician leaving a nice big hole in the works in case they suddenly "find" some reason they should be planning for it, such as a massive outcry from the licensees for instance. Or an exodus. I reckon that might have an awakening effect on them as well.

 

[The Dude]

The operators I have spoken with have stated that their licenses were extended until the end of next year. So they have time to figure this out.

 

[slot_zombie]

Phew. Feet up on the glorious sands of Curacao for another year, then. Carry on spinning ,,?

Not quite as appocalyptic at first thought. That will give the crypto operators plenty of time to make "other arrangements".

 

[goatwack]

Why don't they refer it to The Ministry of Funny Walks? It'll get done quicker, and more professionally too!

The more things change, the more they stay the same

 

[maxd]

... Not quite as appocalyptic at first thought. ...

Yeah, seems to be a pattern with these Curaçao gambling announcements: shocking proclamations of grandiose things followed by glacial implementation resulting in minor changes of small and insignificant things.



Not that the changes for sub-licensees are going to be "small" or "insignificant" but we'll have to wait and see what really happens ... when it finally happens.

 

[The Dude]

Yeah, seems to be a pattern with these Curaçao gambling announcements: shocking proclamations of grandiose things followed by glacial implementation resulting in minor changes of small and insignificant things.

Not that the changes for sub-licensees are going to be "small" or "insignificant" but we'll have to wait and see what really happens ... when it finally happens.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. LOL

 

[Neyo]

Curaçao Master License holders seem to have caught a break, at least temporarily. This could be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it may encourage growth and innovation in the industry.
This answer might get you right the other, it raises questions about regulatory oversight and consumer protection. Striking the right balance will be crucial for the long-term success and integrity of the gambling sector in Curaçao.

[ @maxd says: You are, of course, welcome to join the conversation however including spammy links is uncool: link removed.]

 

[jimmyburt86]

Curaçao Master License holders seem to have caught a break, at least temporarily. This could be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it may encourage growth and innovation in the industry.
This answer might get you right the other, it raises questions about regulatory oversight and consumer protection. Striking the right balance will be crucial for the long-term success and integrity of the gambling sector in Curaçao.

[ @maxd says: You are, of course, welcome to join the conversation however including spammy links is uncool: link removed.]

Rollebit. I have 35000 there to cash out but they want me to deposit $199 in BTC to verify account before I can withdraw!

 

[Betreels Casino & Sports]

Rollebit. I have 35000 there to cash out but they want me to deposit $199 in BTC to verify account before I can withdraw!

Hi,

Do you have the url of the site please? Rollbit is a legitimate brand and won't ask for a deposit to pay withdrawals.

Rollebit (can't find them on Google), on the other hand could be part of a large group of fraudulent brands where players can't stop winning, only to find they have to pay a fee to get paid.

 

[maxd]

Don’t do it! We’ve recently seen other people having problems with Rollbit and they are not responding to player complaints. Have to assume that you do mean RollBit and not RollEBit since there doesn’t appear to be such a site.

FWIW any casino asking you to make those deposits is almost certainly just saying “give us money before we close your account for lame and unspecified reasons”. See here for more on this: https://www.casinomeister.com/forum...lock-or-release-player-winnings.104211/unread

That said, we do need to see the actual URL, as Betreels has said.

- Max

 

[conker]

Hi @jimmyburt86 thanks for joining the forum. You appear to have dug up an old thread from 2023, which is perfectly fine, but is not normally the best way to do things.

We always recommend introducing yourself to get started. If you have a particular grievance with a casino then you can always look to see if there is a rep that you can talk to here at the forum. In this case I have checked and I can't find a rep for Rollebit.

So, you can start a thread reaching out the community here with some questions and see if anyone is able to help. If it is beyond that then we do have a complaints service, but we recommend exploring other options first before heading in this direction.

As @maxd has advised above, Rollebit has some previous here, so maybe you would prefer we set this up in a new thread for discussion?

 

[mulven]

Don’t do it! We’ve recently seen other people having problems with Rollbit and they are not responding to player complaints. Have to assume that you do mean RollBit and not RollEBit since there doesn’t appear to be such a site.

FWIW any casino asking you to make those deposits is almost certainly just saying “give us money before we close your account for lame and unspecified reasons”. See here for more on this: https://www.casinomeister.com/forum...lock-or-release-player-winnings.104211/unread

That said, we do need to see the actual URL, as Betreels has said.

- Max

It is actually Rollebit, it's a similar fake to the widespread scam casinos we usually get posts about but it is distinctly different.

Very similar logo but different. Very similar site colour scheme, different layout. This one fakes a GCB licence with a self hosted link. Purports to be part of Better World (which I have heard of although their reputation wasn't very good so might be worth impersonating someone in better standing).

I'll try to gather more sites names, seems like this scam doesn't go with as much volume as the other one, opting to skin sites differently and make them slightly different. The Pakistani poster, @anas, was seemingly shilling (or an unaware victim, can't remember the posts too well) biybay which is from the same scammers. The website is slightly different and has a different theme but all the other things are the same including the faked licenced proof.

Once I've gathered some information I'll post it to the new post the staff have made for this discussion OR if that hasn't happened yet I'll make a warning post about it and maybe these messages will get merged there. Thought about bumping the thread for the other similar scam with hundreds of sites but as this has some different distinct hallmarks I'm not sure if it merits a different thread or not.

 

[maxd]

Ah, thank you. In that case the gloves are off and anyone going there can expect to walk away poorer than when they arrived.

- Max

 

[mulven]

Ah, thank you. In that case the gloves are off and anyone going there can expect to walk away poorer than when they arrived.

- Max

These guys seem to be doing a curated approach. Custom styling for different themes, using more common top level domains such as .com, .org and .net. Additionally, hundreds of positive astroturfed reviews on trustpilot pages might be part of the MO as I have found another site from these guys called btcwin through their highly positive trustpilot.

Will see if I can find a way to search that isolates most sites, similar to the other scam, not found one yet as there is significantly less text and they might change from site to site.