Most of the casino brands that New Zealand players use hold a Curaçao licence. Curaçao has been reforming its licensing framework, and the practical effect for players is a more useful paper trail than the sector used to provide.
What changed
Under the newer Curaçao Gaming Authority regime, licence records use the OGL format — a licence number such as OGL/2024/161/0191, tied to a specific operating company and, importantly, to a specific domain.
That matters because it makes verification possible. Rather than trusting a badge on a website, you can look up the certificate and check three things:
- the operating company name
- the company registration number
- the exact domain the licence covers
A worked example
Goldex Casino is one of the brands we cover. Its certificate names Stable Tech N.V., company number 160129, under licence OGL/2024/161/0191, for the domain goldexcasino.com, with an active status. That is a primary-source verification, which is exactly what a review site should be able to produce.
The same operator company appears across several brands in the same group. Where a brand in our coverage does not have a certificate we could read, we say so rather than assuming.
What it does not change
A Curaçao licence is not a New Zealand licence, and it does not give you New Zealand consumer protection. If a dispute arises, your route is the operator's complaints process and, at best, the Curaçao regulator — not the Department of Internal Affairs.
Nor does a licence guarantee good behaviour. A regulator with the power to act is better than no regulator, but it is not the same as playing under your own country's rules.
How to check a licence yourself
- Find the operator name and licence number in the site footer.
- Search the Curaçao Gaming Authority's public certificate records.
- Confirm the domain on the certificate matches the site you are on.
- Confirm the company name matches the footer.
If any of those four steps fails, treat the licence claim as unverified.