Dominican Republic Advances Gambling Regulation with New Lottery and Betting Law
The Dominican Republic’s Senate has adopted a new bill, which is meant to regulate the gambling industry in the country, including lotteries, sports betting outlets, casinos, and online betting sites. The bill sets forth a legal framework for authorizing, supervising, and overseeing individuals and companies conducting gambling business in the Dominican Republic.
The bill was submitted to the Senate by Senator Guillermo Lama based on a committee report, prepared by Senator Pedro Catrain (Vice-President of the Senate) and Senator Félix Ramón Bautista Rosario.
As explained in the bill, the market of the gambling business in the Dominican Republic has rapidly grown in recent years, thus making it necessary to adopt new and more efficient regulations for the state to be able to better supervise the industry.
Growing Industry Calls for Regulation
Official statistics released by the Directorate of Casinos and Games of Chance at the Ministry of Finance reveal that there are about 71,000 registered lottery and sports betting outlets in the Dominican Republic. It is argued that the fast development of the industry makes it necessary to update the existing laws to be able to better supervise the market and provide better legal certainty for operators.
In addition, some provisions are included in the bill, which are supposed to improve consumer protection in the gambling industry. Among them are better systems for the identification of customers, preventing minors from accessing online betting sites; tighter rules regarding advertising; and certain restrictions concerning betting products offered by operators.
Tax Reforms Bring Additional Complexity to Regulated Operators
While considering the bill regulating the gambling business, legal expert Yamile Gutiérrez discussed another piece of law, namely Law 30-26 on Pro-Growth Economic Measures, Fiscal Simplification, and International Crisis Mitigation, which had recently been approved. In her view, this reform marks a very important step for an industry that is highly regulated and provides a major contribution to the economy of the Dominican Republic.
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In particular, she argues that the licensed operators have to analyze the consequences of the reform and adjust to both regulatory requirements and the new tax system.
“The reform is already approved, but now it is crucial to make sure that the implementation of the reform will help the economy develop without influencing the competitiveness of licensed and law-abiding businesses“, Gutiérrez said.
Presence of Illegal Gambling Is the Biggest Problem of the Industry
Gutiérrez stressed that one of the biggest problems faced by the industry remains illegal operators who run gambling activities without any licensing, state supervision, and tax obligations.
Moreover, Gutiérrez warned that international practice shows that any increase in the tax obligations of regulated operators, which does not include increased efforts to suppress the activity of unlicensed companies, leads to distortion of market conditions and benefits illegal businesses.
“Illegal operators do not pay taxes, do not implement anti-money laundering programs, do not protect consumers, do not apply responsible gambling measures. Thus, any attempt to improve the taxation of operators must be accompanied by efforts to stop illegal operators’ activity“. Gutiérrez said.
Read more Dominican Republic Moves to Tighten Gambling Oversight as Industry Expansion Tests Existing Rules
Source: SBC Noticias
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