Dominican Republic moves ahead with general gambling law as Congress debates new taxes and tighter oversight

Rogelio Genao Lanza, a Dominican Republic deputy who chaired the special commission reviewing the bill in the Chamber of Deputies, has defended the General Gambling Law now moving through Congress. For PSPs and operators, the important bit is not the political theatre: the draft would create new taxes, a new supervisory body, and a broader registration and control framework for gambling businesses in the country.

1. Genao Lanza rejected criticism that the bill would simply increase the existing tax burden. His point was narrower: the new taxes in the draft do not replace or reduce current charges because, as he put it, “The project creates those taxes, they do not currently exist.”
2. The bill would centralize oversight through a new General Gambling Directorate, an autonomous body that would bring together regulation, supervision, and control of the different gaming verticals operating in the Dominican Republic.
3. The proposal also covers operator registration and control, electronic lotteries, advertising rules, and measures aimed at preventing the effects of problem gambling. In other words, it is not just a tax bill; it is a market-structure bill.
4. The discussion has intensified as the Dominican government continues a regularization process for lottery outlets, sports betting shops, and other local operators. That matters because any PSP working with these merchants will want clarity on who is licensed, who is being regularized, and what the compliance perimeter will look like once the new framework lands.
5. One of the most contested points is the expansion of electronic and virtual gaming. The National Horse Racing Commission said it had granted 29,100 licenses for virtual horse-racing operations, a number that drew concern from sports betting associations worried about how large these products could become in the Dominican market.

There is also a special tax-debt discount regime in article 192 of the draft. It would allow certain operators to reduce accumulated obligations up to December 2025, provided they complete the registration and regularization process required by the new law.