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After a concerted effort in recent years to clean up the industry, the Dominican Republic’s Ministry of Finance has published a resolution to regulate the licensing of online casinos and online gaming.
According to the resolution, licences will be valid for five years and non-transferable for the first three of those years.
The cost of the licence depends on the offer: online casinos will pay DOP20,473,481 (US$346,000); a sports-betting licence will cost DOP15,355,111 (US$260,000); and a third licence “for other online applications” will cost DOP10,236,740 (US$173,000).
The ministry’s resolution contains 36 pages of extremely detailed information on how to obtain a licence, the requirements and a complete set of definitions of terms.
In an act of clarity that the Brazilian market could only dream of , the ministry made sure to define random number generators and the games that qualify: slot machines; roulette; blackjack; and baccarat.
In addition, it has specified the requirements for betting on other live events that do not fall within the definition.
To apply for a licence, foreign companies need to be registered in the Commercial Registry of the Chamber of Commerce and Production with a Dominican address and the National Registry of Taxpayers (RNC) of the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII).
If a company has foreign owners or shareholders, “current corporate documents of said company(ies), which includes minutes of the assembly, with its respective list of shareholders and certificate from the Commercial Registry or the corporate documents equivalent to the country of origin of the company(ies)” are also required”.
The Dominican Republic has faced an uphill battle internally to curb illegal betting in the form of lottery banks — small shops that offer gaming machines.
The "invasion" of foreign operators left local businesses upset.
In 2022, Ricky Nadal, the president of the National Association of Sports Banks, complained that “it is not possible for national companies to be punished with high tax amounts, while every day the foreign invasion of webpages, mobile devices — which do not contribute anything to the Treasury — grows disproportionately".
