Supplier Licence (B2B Licence)
A supplier licence is the authorisation a jurisdiction requires from B2B vendors — platforms, aggregators, studios and key service providers — supplying licensed operators, separate from the operator's own licence.
What it means
A supplier licence (or B2B licence) is a regulator's direct grip on the vendors behind an operator: the platform, the game aggregator, the studios, and in some regimes payment, hosting and testing providers. Instead of policing the supply chain only through operator licence conditions, the jurisdiction licenses or registers the suppliers themselves. Mature markets already work this way — the UK licenses gambling software suppliers, Malta issues B2B Critical Gaming Supply licences, US states run supplier and vendor licensing, and Brazil ties market access to labs and suppliers on recognised lists.
The direction of travel is unmistakable. Curaçao — historically the definition of light-touch — brings its LOK supplier regime into full effect on 24 December 2026: Curaçao-based suppliers need a CGA licence, foreign suppliers must register, and Article 5.16(4) bars licence holders from obtaining critical services from unregistered suppliers. The CGA has urged domestic suppliers to apply by 1 September 2026 and expects registration for foreign suppliers to open around October 2026.
Why it matters for operators
Your vendor's regulatory status is your compliance exposure. When a supplier regime takes effect, an operator can be fully licensed and still in breach because a vendor in the stack isn't. That turns procurement into a compliance function: contracts need warranties on licence status, obligations to notify on lapse or refusal, and exit rights that can actually be exercised — swapping a turnkey platform mid-flight is a project measured in quarters, not weeks.
It also reshapes vendor selection. A supplier already licensed in several strict regimes has survived probity checks, source-of-funds scrutiny and technical audits; one that has only ever sold into grey markets may not clear the bar at all, and its roadmap for doing so is a question worth asking before signing, not after.
Example
An operator's aggregator misses the Curaçao registration deadline. Nothing breaks technically — games keep spinning — but from that day every game round routed through the unregistered aggregator is a licence-condition problem for the operator, discoverable in the next audit and attributable to a contract the operator chose to keep.