[REVISION HISTORY]

Dominican Republic enacts new gambling regulation law

Updated 17 times since CLSTR started tracking revisions of this situation.

What changed

2026-10-05 23:23 UTC → 2026-10-14 02:11 UTC · added ~~removed~~

The Dominican Republic has officially enacted Law 86-26 to regulate the nation’s gambling sector. Following Senate approval on September 16, the legislation underwent Executive review amid formal petitions from the National Association of Sports Betting (Asonabade). Asonabade, led by Ricardo Nadal, had urged President Luis Abinader to review the bill, alleging that modifications to the original proposal favored wealthy groups seeking a monopoly and raised concerns regarding horse racing betting, addiction regulations, and the tax regime for virtual games. On October 2, 2026, the law was published in the Official Gazette. Concurrently, President Abinader issued Decree 684-26, appointing Teófilo José Abrahán Leo Tabar Manzur as the interim Director General of the General Directorate of Gambling (DGJA). ~~Tabar Manzur, who previously coordinated the gambling regularization process, will lead the newly established regulatory body.~~ The ~~decree also mandates that the existing Advisory Council will provide honorary assistance to the DGJA to assist in designing public policies and improving internal procedures. The~~ law unifies rules for casinos, lottery shops, sports betting, horse racing, bingos, and online ~~platforms. It establishes~~ platforms, establishing strict ~~protections, including~~ protections such as a 500-meter buffer zone ~~between gambling establishments and~~ from sensitive locations ~~such as schools, universities, hospitals, churches,~~ and ~~government buildings. Additionally, the framework mandates identity verification against Central Electoral Board records, creates~~ a National Self-Exclusion ~~Registry, and requires that 10%~~ Registry. On October 13, 2026, the DGJA officially commenced operations under the leadership of ~~sector fines be directed toward gambling addiction prevention and treatment. Specific operational updates include extending lottery outlet licenses from~~ Director General Teófilo ‘Quico’ Tabar. The agency issued two primary resolutions to ~~five years. Regarding slot machines,~~ begin enforcement. Resolution 01-2026 prohibits the ~~law mandates a minimum public payout~~ opening of ~~85%~~ new lottery shops or agencies and ~~restricts their use to casinos, one-to-three-star hotels,~~ forbids the installation of lottery machines in prohibited locations. It also established a system for addressing complaints regarding fraud and ~~sports betting outlets, with~~ unpaid prizes. Resolution 02-2026 provides operators a ~~limit~~ non-extendable 30-day period to voluntarily declare irregular points of ~~15 machines per sports betting establishment.~~ sale or unlicensed multi-modality establishments. To validate industry data, a technical commission comprising the DGJA, the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII), and the National Federation of Lottery Shops (Fenabanca) will be formed.

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