Online gambling in Dominican Republic: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Dominican Republic?

Gambling has been legal and taxed for decades: casinos under Law 351-64, betting and lottery bancas and slot halls under Law 139-11, and a 10% monthly tax on internet games since 2011. Resolution 136-2024 of 14 March 2024 gave online operators a concrete licence: a Dominican company (or a locally registered foreign company) pays DOP 20.47 million for an online casino licence or DOP 15.36 million for online sports betting, posts a DOP 20 million bond, runs on a .do domain with local offices and a call center, and certifies its gaming system. The regulator has listed unauthorized sites since 2024, and a bill approved by the Chamber of Deputies in July 2026 would create an autonomous Dirección General de Juegos de Azar, confirm the 10% online tax and allow blocking of unlicensed domains and payments.

Regulated: Private operators can hold a local licence for online casino and/or betting.

Who regulates gambling in Dominican Republic?

• Dirección de Casinos y Juegos de Azar, Ministerio de Hacienda y Economía (DCJA) — Licenses and inspects casinos, bancas, slot halls and online gaming operators; the Comisión de Casinos issues licence resolutions
• Dirección General de Impuestos Internos (DGII) — Collects gaming taxes, including the 10% monthly tax on internet games, and the withholding on prizes

Dominican Republic gambling licence: how it works

An online licence is requested from the DCJA and granted by resolution of the Comisión de Casinos. The applicant must be a company registered in the Dominican Republic (foreign companies register a branch and obtain a tax number) whose corporate purpose includes online gaming, and must disclose every shareholder up to the controlling natural persons with clean criminal records and sworn origin-of-funds declarations. The technical file includes certification of the gaming system (player accounts, RNG and non-RNG games, inspection system, ISO 27001-based security, AML and anti-fraud controls), an audited internal-control manual and disclosure of server locations, which may be abroad but cannot be moved without prior written approval. The licensee must operate under a .do domain, keep offices and a call center in the country, launch within six months and may not transfer the licence for three years.

What an applicant needs

• Dominican company or locally registered foreign company with online gaming in its corporate purpose
• Identification, criminal-record certificates and sworn origin-of-funds declarations for all shareholders and beneficial owners
• Audited financial statements, DGII tax-compliance certificate, local bank account and trademark registration
• Certification of the gaming system and an audited internal-control manual covering accounts, RNG, security, AML and data protection
• .do domain to which all local connections redirect, displaying the licence resolution number, prize plans and responsible-gaming information
• Offices and a call center in the country, disclosed server locations and a DOP 20 million bond renewed annually

Gambling taxes in Dominican Republic

• Operators: 10% monthly tax on gross operations or sales from internet games (Law 139-11, art. 7), payable by the licence holder to the DGII regardless of where the activity is hosted, plus 27% corporate income tax. Land-based verticals pay simplified regimes: casinos a monthly fee per table, slot machines 5% of gross sales, and sports-betting and lottery bancas an annual fee plus 1% of gross sales.
• Players: Prizes from sports-betting shops and lotteries are subject to definitive withholding on a sliding scale: 5% on prizes from DOP 100,001 to 500,000, 10% up to DOP 1,000,000 and 15% above that (Tax Code art. 309 as amended by Law 139-11).
• Also: Law 139-11 froze new sports-betting and lottery bancas for ten years from 2011; the pending gaming bill would impose a new ten-year moratorium on land-based licences except casinos in new hotel projects. Slot machines must return at least 85% and quiniela-type lotteries 72% to players.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

Licensed sites must display the operator's name and contact details, the licence resolution number, prize plans and game rules, a notice that minors may not participate and responsible-gaming information. The pending bill adds advertising controls and a public register of authorized and blocked portals.

Responsible gaming

Registration only for players aged 18 and over, responsible-gaming information on the site and a complaints channel linked to the DCJA. Industry reports say Resolution 184-2026 introduced a national responsible-gambling charter and a central self-exclusion system in 2026; confirm the implementation timetable with the DCJA.

Identity and age verification

Verification of legal name, physical address, age and nationality before play, unique identifiers per player, ten-year retention of identity and activity records, and AML/CFT obligations under Law 155-17 with reporting to the Unidad de Análisis Financiero; casinos have been fined for failing to register with the UAF.

Payments

Local bank transfers, debit and credit cards and mobile wallets are the main rails; cash remains dominant in the banca network. Licensees must hold an account with a Dominican financial institution. Cryptocurrency is not addressed by the resolution and is not used by licensed brands; the pending bill would let the regulator freeze payments to unlicensed operators.

Notable restrictions

• Online operations must run on a .do domain from a company with offices and a call center in the country
• Only games regulated by the DCJA may be offered; server moves need prior approval
• Licence non-transferable for three years and forfeited if operations do not start within six months
• No new land-based bancas for ten years under Law 139-11, with a further moratorium proposed in the pending bill
• Unauthorized online operators are named on the Ministry's public lists and, under the pending bill, blocked

Dominican Republic iGaming market: size, players and payments

No official estimate; an industry profile cited by GamblingMaps put total gross gaming revenue at about USD 0.45 billion a year with online around 40% (Slotegrator data, 2025–2026) and counted roughly 30 active licensees in June 2026.

Resort casinos cluster in Punta Cana and Santo Domingo, the banca networks are large and locally owned, a small number of operators have taken the online licence since 2024, and the DCJA listed 41 unlicensed international sites in March 2024.

Timeline: how Dominican Republic got here

1. 1964Law 351-64 authorizes casinos, mainly in hotels, to support tourism
2. 2011-06Law 139-11 sets the 10% monthly tax on internet games, banca and slot taxes and a ten-year freeze on new bancas
3. 2024-03Resolution 136-2024 of 14 March regulates online licences; the DCJA lists 41 unauthorized sites
4. 2025-06Executive submits a comprehensive gaming bill creating the Dirección General de Juegos de Azar
5. 2026Resolution 184-2026 reported to introduce a responsible-gambling charter and self-exclusion system
6. 2026-07Chamber of Deputies approves the gaming bill with amendments on 23 July and returns it to the Senate
7. 2026-08Senate resumes the bill in the new legislature; it lapses if not passed before January 2027

Outlook

The decisive item is the gaming bill before the Senate: it would create an autonomous regulator (DGJA) under the Ministry of Finance, keep the 10% monthly tax on online gross income, give existing licensees one year to conform, freeze new land-based licences for ten years, add prison penalties for unlicensed operation and authorize domain and payment blocking coordinated with INDOTEL. It must pass before January 2027 or lapse again. Expect the DCJA to keep publishing unauthorized-site lists in the meantime.

Launching in Dominican Republic with GameBridge

Turnkey (your licence, our platform). The online licence is issued to the operator's Dominican company, which must run local offices, a call center and a .do domain, so the operator holds the licence and runs on GameBridge technology; GameBridge does not hold a Dominican licence and cannot promise approval.

A Dominican brand on GameBridge runs in Spanish (Latin America) with a DOP wallet, the licensed .do domain with local-connection redirection, and bank transfer, card and mobile-wallet rails on request through the operator's Dominican bank. Geo-controls admit players in the Dominican Republic and exclude other markets unless separately licensed. The platform ships with 18+ identity checks capturing name, address, age and nationality, ten-year record retention, an inspection feed for the DCJA and AML reporting aligned to Law 155-17, plus deposit and session limits and self-exclusion ready for the national scheme. GameBridge Studios and Originals ship with the certification package the gaming-system certification requires.

• Spanish (Latin America) site language with a DOP wallet
• .do domain configuration with local-connection redirection
• Bank transfer, card and mobile-wallet rails through the operator's Dominican bank
• 18+ identity capture (name, address, age, nationality) with ten-year retention
• DCJA inspection feed, audited internal-control documentation and UAF reporting workflows
• Deposit and session limits and self-exclusion ready for the national scheme
• Certification package for every GameBridge Studios and Originals release

Baseball and football drive Dominican sportsbook volume and slots and live casino lead online play; the aggregated catalog brings the studios Dominican players know, and GameBridge Studios builds exclusive baseball- or carnival-themed slots to the operator's brief.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• Expedición de licencia de operación de juegos de azar por internet — Ministerio de Hacienda y Economía, accessed 2026-09-11
• Ley No. 139-11 sobre reforma tributaria (impuestos a casinos, bancas, tragamonedas y juegos por internet) — Dirección General de Impuestos Internos, accessed 2026-09-11
• Bancas de Apuestas Deportivas — requisitos — Dirección de Casinos y Juegos de Azar, accessed 2026-09-11
• Diputados aprueban ley que pone cerco a apuestas por internet: pagarán 10 % de impuesto y bloquearán plataformas ilegales — El Pregonero, accessed 2026-09-11
• Proyecto ley juegos de azar frena licencias de bancas — Diario Libre, accessed 2026-09-11
• Diputados aprueban proyecto de ley sobre juegos de azar y lo envían al Senado — Listín Diario, accessed 2026-09-11
• Dominican Republic Online Licence 2026 — Compliance Brief — GamblingMaps, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.