Curacao Gaming Authority leak and what a casino license still proves

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Curacao license checks still work after the September 2026 leak, and no permit was cancelled by the reporting. What the published files call into question is ownership, namely who really stands behind the licensed companies and how closely the regulator looked before issuing permits. The certificate search remains the way to confirm that a casino holds a current Curacao license for the domain you are on, so use it for that and judge ownership separately.

What happened to the CGA licensing portal

Unauthorized access to the Curacao Gaming Authority online gaming portal was confirmed by the regulator itself in a press release dated 17 September 2026. The CGA said the access had been contained and its source identified, that a forensic investigation was under way, and that the full scope of the incident was not yet established. It added that no compromise of its core technical infrastructure had been identified at that stage, and that affected applicants and licensees would be notified directly.

Five days later, on 22 September 2026, Follow the Money published an investigation called Casino Secrets together with NRK in Norway, NDR in Germany, Jetzt in Austria and SVT in Sweden. It is based on documents taken from that portal, and it connects roughly 800 owners to nearly 650 licensed gambling companies. The reporting says the authority granted permits in cases where questions about the beneficial owners had not been answered.

Regulator statement
17 September 2026, unauthorized access to the online gaming portal
Investigation published
22 September 2026, by Follow the Money with NRK, NDR, Jetzt and SVT
Scale reported
Around 800 owners across nearly 650 licensed companies
System affected
The licensing portal used for filings, not the public certificate search
Licenses withdrawn
None as a result of the publication

What the leak changes for a license check

Nothing mechanical changes. The certificate search on cert.cga.cw is a different surface from the filing portal, and it still returns a live Certificate of Operation naming the operator, the license number, the grant date, the covered domains and the current status. Every step on our Curacao license page works the same way today as it did before the story ran.

What changes is the weight a reader should put on the result. A Curacao certificate has always been a statement about registration and supervision. The reporting is a reminder that it was never a statement about ultimate ownership, and that the vetting behind it varied.

Question about a casinoCan the CGA register answer it?
Does a current license cover this exact domain?Yes, the certificate lists the certified domains
Which legal entity holds the license?Yes, the operator and company number are named
Is the license active right now?Yes, the status appears on the live certificate
Who ultimately owns the licensed company?No, beneficial ownership is not published
How thoroughly was that ownership verified?No, and this is the point the 2026 reporting raises
May the casino accept players from my country?No, that depends on the rules where you live

A licensed company can still be an illegal operator elsewhere

One case in the reporting shows the gap plainly. Novatech Solutions N.V., the company behind Qbet.com and 55Bet.com, was fined 24,846,000 euro by the Dutch Kansspelautoriteit for offering gambling to players in the Netherlands without a Dutch permit. The decision was taken on 16 December 2025 and published on 10 March 2026. A valid offshore license and an enforcement action in a regulated market can describe the same company at the same time, which is why the question that matters to a player is whether an operator may lawfully serve their own market.

How to check a Curacao casino right now

  1. Open the certificate search at cert.cga.cw and type the casino domain, not the brand name.
  2. Confirm the certificate is live, that the status reads active, and that your exact domain appears in the certified list.
  3. Match the operator named on the certificate against the company named in the casino terms and conditions.
  4. Check the seal on the casino site is the green CGA dynamic seal that links back to that same certificate.
  5. Check your own country's regulator, because a Curacao license says nothing about whether the operator may serve you.

The full procedure, the register links and the red flags specific to this jurisdiction are on the Curacao page. The general method for any regulator is in our guide on how to check a casino license.

Our position on the leaked documents

We do not use them. Our Curacao data comes from the public certificate search and from published regulator decisions, and it always has. The leaked files contain passports, tax returns and personal financial records belonging to named individuals, and republishing that material is not something an independent reference should do. Everything on this page is drawn from the regulator's own press release, from the published investigation and from the Dutch penalty decision, all linked below. Our methodology explains where every record on this site comes from.

Frequently asked questions

Was the Curacao license register hacked?

No. The unauthorized access the CGA confirmed on 17 September 2026 concerned its online gaming portal, the system licensees and applicants use to file documents. The public certificate search on cert.cga.cw is a separate surface and continues to return live Certificates of Operation, so a license check works exactly as it did before.

Does the leak cancel any Curacao gambling license?

No. The reporting concerns how licenses were granted and who stands behind the licensed companies. No permit was withdrawn by the publication. License status is still settled by the certificate in the CGA register and nowhere else.

What does a Curacao license actually prove?

It proves that a named legal entity holds a current permit from the Curacao Gaming Authority for named domains, and that the entity is subject to the conduct rules of the LOK. It is not a finding about who ultimately owns that entity, and the September 2026 reporting says ownership questions were sometimes left open when licenses were granted.

How should a player read a Curacao license after the leak?

Use it to rule out the obvious problem, which is a casino with no license at all or a license that does not cover the domain you are on. Then judge the operator on things the register does not cover, such as published terms, complaint handling and whether the casino is permitted to accept players from your country.

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