You have got your Curaçao license. The site is live, the game library is loaded, and your marketing is ready. Then you try to accept a Visa payment and your bank declines the application. There’s no long explanation, just a form email about “business type.”
Most gaming founders hit this wall. Getting licensed and getting paid are separate problems. The second one is often harder.
This guide covers how an offshore gaming merchant account works for Curaçao operators, why gaming counts as high risk, and where a specialist provider like WebPays fits.
Why banks treat gaming as high risk
Nobody at your local bank dislikes you personally. The reasons are mostly practical:
- Chargebacks. Gambling produces disputes. Some come from real fraud. Others come from players who lost, regretted it, and told their card issuer they didn’t authorize the deposit. Card networks watch a merchant’s dispute ratio closely, and a bad month can put you in a monitoring program.
- Money laundering exposure. Deposit-and-withdraw models attract bad actors. Acquirers worry about being the pipe that carries dirty money.
- Cross-border complexity. Players come from many countries, each with its own rules. The acquirer needs to know you’re not accepting players from places where you have no right to operate.
- Reputation. Some banks simply don’t want gambling on their books, whatever the numbers look like.
Card networks put gambling in its own merchant category (MCC 7995), so acquirers can spot it immediately. That’s why it’s hard to hide gaming volume inside a “software” or “entertainment” account, and why trying it is a bad idea. Misdescribing your business is one of the fastest ways to get an account frozen.
What an offshore merchant account actually is
An offshore merchant account is an account with an acquirer based outside your home country. The acquirer is willing to underwrite businesses that domestic banks won’t touch, including gaming, forex, crypto and adult services.
The payment gateway sits on top. It’s the technical layer that takes the card details at checkout, sends them for authorization, and reports the result. The merchant account is where the money lands.
For a Curaçao high risk processor the appeal is simple. Your license, your company structure and your customers may all sit in different places, so you want an acquirer used to that. A domestic bank sees that mix and gets nervous. A high-risk specialist sees it every day.
Where the Curaçao license fits in
Your license is the first document an acquirer asks about. It doesn’t guarantee approval, but without it you’re rarely in the conversation.
Curaçao has moved from its old master-license model to direct licensing under the Curaçao Gaming Authority. In practice, acquirers can now expect more detailed information about ownership, governance and controls. The upside is that a properly licensed operator looks more credible to a payment provider than one relying on a vague sub-license arrangement.
Be aware of the current situation too. On 17 September the CGA disclosed unauthorized access to its licensing portal, and a large archive of licensing documents has since been published by journalists. The regulator investigation is still ongoing. What this means for you as a merchant is practical: expect acquirers and banks to ask more questions about ownership and source of funds, and make sure your paperwork is accurate, consistent and ready to send. Any gap between what you told the regulator and what you tell a payment provider will get noticed.
One more thing: a Curaçao license doesn’t give you the right to serve a country that requires its own local license. Acquirers know this, and they’ll ask which markets you accept and how you block the rest.
What acquirers usually ask for
Every provider is a little different, but the standard pack looks like this:
- Your gaming license, or proof that one is in progress
- Company registration documents and a structure chart
- Ownership and director details, with ID
- Proof of address for the business and its owners
- Business plan or product description, including target countries
- Processing history if you have any, or projected volumes if you don’t
- AML and responsible gaming policies
- Website review: terms, privacy policy, age verification, complaint process
Have all of it in one folder before you approach anyone. Half of the delays in approval come from operators sending things piecemeal.
The costs to expect
High-risk processing costs more than ordinary processing. That’s the price of the risk the acquirer is taking. Things to ask about:
- Processing rate. Higher than a standard e-commerce account.
- Rolling reserve. Many high-risk accounts hold back a percentage of volume for a set period, as a cushion against chargebacks.
- Setup and gateway fees. These vary a lot.
- Chargeback fees. Per dispute, on top of the lost transaction.
- Settlement schedule. How fast you actually get paid matters more than the headline rate.
Ask for every fee in writing before you sign, including what happens when you exceed a chargeback threshold. A cheap rate with a harsh penalty clause isn’t cheap.
Where Webpays fits
Webpays is a payment provider that offers offshore merchant accounts and a payment gateway for high-risk sectors, including online casinos, betting, forex and other categories that mainstream banks decline. On their site they say they work with multiple acquiring banks, support 100+ currencies and 35+ payment methods, and offer tools for fraud screening and chargeback management.
Their model is to place you with acquirers that understand your business rather than sending you to a bank that will decline you. For a gaming operator, the practical value of a specialist like this is:
- Introductions. Knowing which acquirers accept gaming, and which ones suit your target markets.
- One integration. A single gateway connection instead of building separate ones for each acquirer.
- Payment method range. Cards plus alternatives such as e-wallets and bank transfers, which matters when cards get declined often.
- Support for the paperwork. Someone who’s seen the application process many times can save you weeks.
Webpays also advertises high approval rates and low rates. Treat any provider’s marketing numbers as a starting point for questions, not a promise. Ask what approval rate applies to your business type and market mix, and get quotes in writing.
How to pick a provider without getting burned
- Ask who the acquirer is. You should know which bank or institution actually holds your funds.
- Read the reserve and termination terms carefully. These are where operators get hurt.
- Check the payout track record. Ask for references from other gaming merchants.
- Confirm the markets. Make sure the provider is comfortable with the countries you plan to accept.
- Have a backup. Don’t run all your volume through one acquirer. If one account is frozen, you need another that works.
- Stay honest about your business. Describe your gaming activity accurately, every time.
Keep your chargebacks low
Whatever provider you choose, your dispute ratio is what keeps the account alive. A few habits help a lot:
- Use 3D Secure for card deposits
- Make your billing descriptor recognizable, so players don’t dispute a charge they can’t identify
- Respond to support tickets fast, because an unanswered player often becomes a chargeback
- Enforce KYC and age checks before withdrawals
- Give players deposit limits and self-exclusion tools, which reduces regret-driven disputes
Final thoughts
A Curaçao license gets you into the conversation, but a merchant account is what lets you actually take payments. With the right offshore partner, clean paperwork and disciplined chargeback management, gaming is a workable payments business rather than an impossible one.
If you want to talk through your setup, contact Webpays and ask for a quote based on your markets, volumes and license status.