The market
The Dominican Republic has moved to license online betting through the Ministerio de Hacienda’s casino directorate, under Resolución 136-2024, which regulates authorisation for online casinos and sports betting. It is a Caribbean market with a large land-based betting-shop (“bancas”) culture, and the online regime is being layered on top of that, with the state pushing operators to formalise and register.
The market is baseball and football led, with a big informal betting-shop base that the new law is trying to bring into a regulated, taxed structure. Online is newer and smaller than the land-based network, and the regime is mid-transition: fees and bonds are set, but the governing law and tax rates are being rewritten in 2026.
Regulation and licensing
Today the regulator is the Dirección de Casinos y Juegos de Azar within Hacienda. Resolución 136-2024 sets the online framework: an online casino licence costs DOP 20,473,481 (about USD 346,000), a sports-betting licence DOP 15,355,111 (about USD 260,000), and a third “other online applications” licence DOP 10,236,740 (about USD 173,000). Licences run five years and are non-transferable for the first three. Operators must have local offices and call centres, launch within six months of licence issue, and post a RD$20,000,000 fiel-cumplimiento bond.
The bigger change is legislative. A comprehensive gaming bill, merging Senate proposals, passed the Chamber of Deputies with modifications in July 2026 and returned to the Senate; it would create a Dirección General de Juegos de Azar (DGJA) as an autonomous regulator, set a 10-year cap on new licences (excluding hotel and tourist-zone casinos), and add a self-exclusion register and anti-money-laundering rules. Separately, Ley 30-26, promulgated by President Luis Abinader on 19 June 2026 as part of a fiscal package, raised the tax burden on casinos and betting, with the Finance Minister Magín Díaz projecting it to raise an extra RD$40bn to RD$50bn across the economy and the gaming increases taking effect from 1 July 2026.
Marketing and player rules
The pending gaming law introduces player-protection measures for both physical and online play, including a self-exclusion register to stop playing and fines targeting problem gambling. Detailed advertising rules are being set within that bill. On tax, Ley 30-26 increased sector levies; the exact online GGR tax rate under the new regime was still being settled in the 2026 legislative process, so no single GGR percentage is fixed here. Age limit is 18.
What this means for your plan
The Dominican Republic is a watch, because the licence exists but the ground is moving. I would not file until the comprehensive gaming law is enacted and the DGJA stands up, because entering under Resolución 136-2024 now means re-papering under a new regulator and possibly new tax within a year. The fees are known and not trivial (about USD 346,000 for online casino), and the RD$20,000,000 bond and local call-centre requirement add cost. The event to wait for is the Senate finalising the gaming law and the tax rate settling after Ley 30-26; then reassess.
Sources
- Yogonet, Hacienda publica la Resolución 136-2024, tarifas de licencias online, checked 5 September 2026
- Focus Gaming News, diputados aprueban con cambios la ley que regula los juegos de azar, checked 5 September 2026
- Morillo Suriel Abogados, proceso para operar juegos de azar y fianza de RD$20m, checked 5 September 2026
- Revista Casino Perú, Ley 30-26 y la reforma fiscal al juego, checked 5 September 2026