THE HAGUE - The Dutch Minister for Legal Protection Franc Weerwind has defended the timeline for reforming Curaçao's gambling system and points to the progress the island is making in implementing the reforms requested by the Dutch government.
New legislation is expected to raise the barrier to entry, potentially forcing some gambling operators out of the market, but Finance Minister Javier Silvania says the operators unable to meet the new standards would not be a big loss.
In response to parliamentary questions, Weerwind said that the Dutch government was already working with Curaçao to update the gambling system. The Netherlands links Covid-19 aid to reforms of the Curaçao online gambling system, among other things, and demanded more transparency and a real licensing authority.
This is a concern for the Netherlands and has been the reason, among other things, that the Curaçao Country Package contains two measures to reform and modernize the entire gambling sector, and in particular the online offshore gambling sector, he said.
However, he added that the Netherlands cannot impose its own rules on Curaçao, and instead must wait for measures to pass the legislative process there.
In answering the parliamentary questions, Weerwind also discussed the two other overseas countries of the kingdom, Aruba and Sint Maarten. Aruba has a regulator that oversees casinos, while Sint Maarten has no regulator at all, but the minister says both countries are committed to setting up a regulator to supervise the entire gambling sector.