The Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS) and the Dutch gambling authority, Kansspelautoriteit have joined hands in their fight against illegal gambling.
The two authorities have reportedly started taking measures against Carmanco NV, a local trust management firm that vouches for rouge operators and fraudulent gambling activities.
The firm has been found to represent a gambling company that targets Dutch players without proper authorisation. Carmanco NV is a subsidiary of Curaçao Trust Management NV, which is licensed from the CBCS to offer trust services to global companies.
According to trusted sources, a client of Carmanco was earlier fined €350,000 for serving Dutch gamblers with products that are presently illegal in the Netherlands.
Furthermore, Curaçao licensee CyberRock Entertainment, which acquired its registration through Carmanco has also been penalised along with its affiliate company Honeydew Trading Limited by the Dutch gaming authority for illegally operating in the Netherlands.
These companies have been reported to target Dutch players via various brands that include popular online casinos Play2Win and Supreme Play.
It is to be noted that CyberRock Entertainment and Honeydew Trading Limited have already earned a lot of complaints and negative feedback from casino reviewers and players for being predatory and failing to respond to customer issues.
Any supervised institution is obliged to inform the CBCS about all incidents with which it or its clients have been involved. According to a spokesperson from the bank, the organisation will take all necessary actions against Carmanco NV and its client CyperRock Entertainment.
Interestingly, this is not the first incident where Carmanco has ended up in a hot soup. George Praag, the director of the trust management firm had earlier received an official warning from the Dutch gambling authority in 2015 after the latter penalised an associated client for targeting Dutch players.
Mr. Praag’s name had also made it to the Panama Papers because of his offshore financial activities. However, he had promised in 2015 to comply with laws and regulations. Apart from this, Carmanco was also sued in Willemstad for improper management and unlawful actions that were seriously blameworthy.
According to Kansspelautoriteit, Carmanco has clearly failed to deliver on its promises. The Dutch gambling authority also stated that it would work closely with competent Curaçao authorities to curb illegal online gambling in the near future.