Panama’s online gambling market drove first-half 2026 growth as suspicious activity reports rose 58%

Panama’s gambling market finished the first half of 2026 with gross wagers up to $1,607.83 million, according to official INEC figures, a 16.5% increase from $1,380.20 million in the same period of 2025. For payment providers, the useful part is simple: internet wagering did most of the heavy lifting, while the country’s financial intelligence unit also logged a sharp rise in suspicious activity reports across the sector.

1. Online gambling was the main growth engine. Internet-operated games generated $379.75 million in January-June 2026, up 59.8% from $237.62 million a year earlier. That made the digital channel the fastest-moving segment in Panama’s gambling market by a wide margin.
2. Slot machines of type “A” remained the biggest revenue pool. They brought in $1,113.46 million in the semester, a 7% increase from $1,040.36 million in the first half of 2025. In other words, online led the growth story, but land-based volume still sat with slots.
3. Table games and bingo also moved higher. Table games reached $87.42 million, up 18.6% from $73.69 million. Bingo halls added $3.34 million, a 6% rise from $3.16 million a year earlier.
4. Several other segments went the other way. Lottery revenue and sales fell 4.1% to $400.68 million from $417.68 million. Betting at Hipódromo Presidente Remón declined 7.2% to $13.44 million from $14.49 million. Sports-event rooms slipped 0.8% from $9.22 million to $9.14 million. Instant games posted the steepest drop, down 23.5% to $1.28 million from $1.68 million.
5. Compliance pressure rose at the same time. Panama’s Unidad de Análisis Financiero (UAF) said it recorded 839 Reportes de Operaciones Sospechosas (ROS, suspicious activity reports) across the country’s financial and non-financial sectors in the first half of 2026. Within the non-financial segment, gambling led the alert list, and the UAF said sector ROS increased 58%.

For PSPs and acquirers, Panama’s first-half numbers point to two things at once: internet gambling is clearly the growth channel, and it is also the part of the market drawing the most attention from the AML side. That combination tends to matter more than any headline revenue figure.