Club Gold Remote Gambling License Questions

[DinoG]

Club Gold Casino would like to dispel all doubts as to the seriousness which it is attaching to the pending questions on this forum in relation to its gaming license and in fact express its great concern at the lack of progress on this matter.

As Michael Corfman stated in his posts of 13 and 19 September, we have provided him with all the information relating to our license, which we have held since 2011 and he intends to post his conclusions once he has reviewed it. During subsequent communications with Michael, we have provided him with yet more information and he advised us that he intended to communicate directly with our licensing authority before making his post. Our intention was to avoid making any further comments until Michael has posted his own, as Michael’s post is expected to provide a complete resolution of the matter. However, seeing as Michael has not posted his conclusions yet, we considered it necessary to make this post in order to reassure readers that this matter is not being ignored by us.

We look forward to Michael posting his comments.

[Roulette Zeitung]

Comments?
Some readers should no longer be fobbed off with mere crumbs.
it's time to publish documents!

Leopold

[Roulette Zeitung]

Mr Dino

could you also explain why Curacao denies many and many times with different people, that you are licensed by they?

And we should ask him, why no documents will be shown.
I have it black on white, that "confidential" is only an excuse.
Anyway, i think, many readers know the answer.
Comments are no longer needed.
As long as a relationship of dependency exist, and that is the case (paying sponsor), only documents counts.

Leopold

[-Shay-]

I have done a fair amount of research over the past several days, and have received in-depth answers to a number of questions I had. I do have a couple additional questions I hope to have answered tomorrow, at which time I plan to put together a complete post. But, in the meantime, the short answer to you question is that Club Gold Casino does have a fully legitimate online gaming license in Curacao, and has since early in 2011.

Michael

Michael, I hate to be the bad guy here - but over the past few days we've seen posts warmly welcoming new sponsors and commentary on the malware warning - but despite a number of interested parties calling for the "detailed post" that was hinted at in the post I quoted above, we've heard nothing from you.

Can you provide an update - even if it is to take time to stop in and say you're compiling more information, waiting on something, or whatever? It may not be your intention, but I can't help but feel like this is being brushed aside.

[MichaelCorfman]

Can you provide an update - even if it is to take time to stop in and say you're compiling more information, waiting on something, or whatever? It may not be your intention, but I can't help but feel like this is being brushed aside.

Hi, I have to apologize for the delay. And I want to be very clear that it is not that the issue is being brushed aside. I did receive some additional information since my last post, and have also made additional queries for further information. My goal is to be able to explain how licensing works in Curacao in some detail, so that I can provide enough background information about how licensing actually works in that jurisdiction. For example, there are multiple entities that have the right to grant licenses in Curacao, and I don't yet know how many there are and who they all are. So, rather than just having a couple questions before making a post, the scope of the research I wanted to do expanded. Also, I have been on the road traveling since last weekend, and am presently at the global gaming expo in Las Vegas, so that has made it a lot harder for me to follow-up with folks this week, and the folks from regulatory agencies don't always respond immediately.

Michael

[-Shay-]

Hi, I have to apologize for the delay. And I want to be very clear that it is not that the issue is being brushed aside. I did receive some additional information since my last post, and have also made additional queries for further information. My goal is to be able to explain how licensing works in Curacao in some detail, so that I can provide enough background information about how licensing actually works in that jurisdiction. For example, there are multiple entities that have the right to grant licenses in Curacao, and I don't yet know how many there are and who they all are. So, rather than just having a couple questions before making a post, the scope of the research I wanted to do expanded. Also, I have been on the road traveling since last weekend, and am presently at the global gaming expo in Las Vegas, so that has made it a lot harder for me to follow-up with folks this week, and the folks from regulatory agencies don't always respond immediately.

Michael

Thank you - no more hard feelings.

[DinoG]

Club Gold Casino has been licensed by Gaming Curacao since 2011, as confirmed by the seal which is now appearing on our website. Details of our license number and of our licensing authority are contained in the seal.

Holding a valid gaming license is a prerequisite for any operator before they may use the Playtech platform, which is further proof that the license has been in existence since the casino started to operate, contrary to the doubts which some commentators have expressed on this forum.

The logo of Curacao eGaming was indeed displayed on our website for a brief period of time between May and July 2013. This was due to an oversight on the part of one of our web designers, who did not realise that Curacao eGaming and Gaming Curacao are two different licensing authorities. The offending logo was immediately removed as soon as the mistake came to our attention and we contacted both Curacao eGaming and Gaming Curacao to clarify the matter. Gaming Curacao subsequently launched its own licensing seal, which is the one now appearing on our website.

It is our understanding that Michael will be providing further details of the licensing regime in Curacao.

[DinoG]

Under the terms of its license, Club Gold Casino is indeed not allowed to accept players resident in Curacao and in fact, never has. Our website has been updated to reflect this today.

In any event, regardless of whether this restriction was stated on our website or not, our system has always blocked players from Curacao from opening an account.

[MichaelCorfman]

I now have answers to most of the questions I had before making a more extensive post on the topic of gaming licenses in Curacao. I have to apologize for the delay. In large part it was due to my sending email messages on my phone while traveling, and fat fingering email addresses because of not using a full pc keyboard. Anyway, here is a more complete report based on the research I have completed thusfar.

The government of Curacau issued master gaming licenses to about a dozen business entities during the period of time from approximately 1996 to 2010 (actually, during that time period it was known as the government of the Netherlands Antilles). Master license holders are entitled to grant gaming licenses to third parties, and at the present time the only new licenses being issued are issued by one of the various master license holders. I am not aware of any government site that identifies the master licensees, and it is a topic of ongoing research for me to attempt to identify all of the master license holders.

When an operator states that they are licensed in Curacao, from a regulatory perspective it generally means that they have been granted a gaming license by one of the master licensees, under the authority granted to the master licensee by the government of Curacau. With very few exceptions (just the master licensees), it does not mean the operator has been issued a license directly by the government.

The website www.curacao-egaming.com is operated by one of the master licensees. It is the website of a commercial business that is a master license holder, and not the website of a government agency. This is also true of the website www.gaming-curacao.com.

Personally, the way online gaming licensing works in Curacao was a surprise to me. I thought that licenses were generally issued by the government, but that is simply not true. In fact, I initially assumed that the website www.curacao-egaming.com was a government run website, but it is not. So, I find it believable that a webmaster that did not do extensive research might not appreciate the nuances of the way licensing works in that jurisdiction could have made the same mistake I did.

The information I have shows that as soon as the fact that the seal was not the correct one, since it was a seal for licenses granted by a different master license holder, the incorrect seal was removed. The correct master license holder was then contacted to obtain further clarification, and the result was that this second master license holder (the operator of the newly launched www.gaming-curacao.com website, made a decision to launch that website, and to also provide a seal for their license holders.

The master license holder operating the www.gaming-curacao.com website has been a master licensee for quite a while (since 1998 ). The debacle of Club Gold Casino showing the seal of a different master licensee resulted in their master licensee accepting a request by Club Gold Casino that they also institute a seal for their licensees. A decision was actually made to require all of their license holders to place the seal they have provided on the websites licensed through them. However, since the seal was just launched, existing licensees have been given until 1 December 2013 to comply with the requirement that they place the seal on their sites.

If anyone has any further questions, please let me know. But also please understand that I am now in Barcelona for the Barcelona Affiliate Conference, so with my continued travels, responses are likely to be slower than would otherwise be the case.

Michael

[universal4]

Michael, the entire community owes you a great deal of gratitude for researching this and posting such a thorough and in depth look at how licensing works in this jurisdiction.

I am sure that these points will be referred to often and it does answer a lot of questions that many affiliate have had.

Rick
Universal4

[TheGooner]

Agreed - thanks Michael.

Given that research - it cannot be long before responsible organisations decide that a Curacao (sub)license from a non-government master licensee has very little authority at all.

[-Shay-]

Agreed - thanks Michael.

Given that research - it cannot be long before responsible organisations decide that a Curacao (sub)license from a non-government master licensee has very little authority at all.

As far as I'm aware, Curacao is not part of the European Union. Thus, that licence is not recognized in the UK and having JUST that licence is not enough for being able to legally market to/accept UK players. I'm not certain how this plays out in other European countries. Maybe people from other countries can chime in as well.

[TheGooner]

As far as I'm aware, Curacao is not part of the European Union. Thus, that licence is not recognized in the UK and having JUST that licence is not enough for being able to legally market to/accept UK players. I'm not certain how this plays out in other European countries. Maybe people from other countries can chime in as well.

THe UK white list is - not surprisingly just for the UK.
It stopped accepting new locations in 2009 ... making it fairly useless.

The new UK Gambling Bill (licensing and Advertising) which is anticipated being passed in 2014 ... introducing point of consumption taxes ... should bring the UK back up to date.
http://www.gbgc.com/2013/07/uk-gover...ew-regulation/

A nice summary from wikipedia for the Current UK whitelist ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiteli..._jurisdictions

The whitelist currently includes:

• EEA countries
• Alderney
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Gibraltar
• Isle of Man
• Tasmania^[4]

Alderney and the Isle of Man were accepted in 2007. Antigua was added in 2008 upon its second application.^[5] Tasmania joined the whitelist in 2008.^[6]
In April 2009, the UK Gambling Commission closed all new applications to the Whitelist in April 2009 in order to improve the system.^[5]

[-Shay-]

As far as I'm aware, Curacao is not part of the European Union. Thus, that licence is not recognized in the UK and having JUST that licence is not enough for being able to legally market to/accept UK players. I'm not certain how this plays out in other European countries. Maybe people from other countries can chime in as well.

I worded the above quote poorly. I meant that I was unsure whether other European countries recognized the Curacao licence.

[MichaelCorfman]

There were originally two separate threads covering Curacao licensing questions. The first was started by Universal4 that included a quote from Shay, which is the first post in this thread, and the second was started by Roulette Zeitung, which is post 13 in this thread.

All of the posts from both threads have been combined into this thread which now contains the full details of all of the questions raised and the corresponding answers.

Michael

[Triple7]

F.e. this one: http://www.gaminglicences.com/pages/...=8048-I0312847, is a sub license from a master license?

[LiisaCGP]

F.e. this one: http://www.gaminglicences.com/pages/...=8048-I0312847, it's fake, right?

Dear CasinoVergelijker,

I must apologize however I fail to see the relevance of this post in this thread. Can you please clarify your issue and how does it relate to Club Gold Casino?

[Triple7]

Dear CasinoVergelijker,

I must apologize however I fail to see the relevance of this post in this thread. Can you please clarify your issue and how does it relate to Club Gold Casino?

Well, it is/was the same license verificator, that's all.

[Triple7]

I worded the above quote poorly. I meant that I was unsure whether other European countries recognized the Curacao licence.

F.e. The Netherlands is not accepting any license. No Curacao license, but officially also Gibraltar & Malta licenses are not accepted. Belgium is accepting just Belgian licenses.

Give it 5 or 10 years and every European country will have its own license system, accepting just their own license...

[allfreechips]

So what is the point of this license with nothing to back it? Pretty much sounds like pay us X and you can be a casino, try not to cause too much trouble?

I would assume these have 0 meaning if they are just a permit to be sold, and the seller will not back them