Dutch Socialist Party MP Ronald van Raak recently expressed concerns over sports betting and other gambling activities in Curaçao and St. Maarten, Caribbean jurisdictions in the Netherland Antilles. In a letter to Minister of Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk, van Raak asked, “Do you agree that Curaçao has failed in its supervision on the gambling sector? If so, what role do you see for the Kingdom to eliminate these administrative abuses?” The Minister noted gambling law enforcement is the responsibility of Curaçao with the economic support of the Netherlands.
Curaçao’s Gaming Control Board responded in a press release, “GCB is a highly professional organization with extensive specific knowledge and experience with regard to the complex monitoring of the gambling industry.”
In St. Maarten, local reports indicated up to 50 agents were investigating illegal gambling. However, a spokesman for the St. Maarten prosecutor’s office said, “The public prosecutor’s office knows nothing of an investigation into the gambling industry in St. Maarten. There is also no cooperation with the United States. The only thing we have is a request for judicial assistance from Italy, but that was already known.”
Van Raak also asked if the purchase of Ctex by Curaçao telecommunication company United Telecommunication Services may lead to an expansion of online casino and lottery offerings. “How do you explain that UTS and its subsidiaries are public companies, but do not belong to the country and its institutions, and that supervision is not authorized by the General Court of Auditors?” van Raak inquired.
A UTS official said, “UTS incorporated the Curaçao Code of Corporate Governance in its statutes and into its operations.”
