Dominican Republic weighs a single gambling regulator as Congress works on a unified licensing regime

The Dominican Republic is moving toward a centralized framework for gambling oversight, with Quico Tabar backing the creation of an autonomous body to supervise betting, casinos, and related activities. For PSPs and operators, the point is simple: one regulator and one rulebook usually means less institutional sprawl, clearer licensing expectations, and a cleaner enforcement line when the market is being reorganized.

1. Teófilo José Abrahán Tabar Manzur, known as Quico Tabar and the general administrator of the Lotería Nacional de República Dominicana, said he supports creating a specialized autonomous entity to regulate gambling in the country. The idea is described as a structure similar to a Dirección General de Juegos, with responsibility for the full supervision and control of betting activity.
2. Tabar’s argument is operational, not decorative: concentrating oversight in one institution would, in his view, improve sector transparency, give operators greater legal certainty, and make supervision and tax collection more efficient. In practice, that matters because fragmented oversight is where delays, conflicting instructions, and enforcement surprises tend to live.
3. Right now, control over gambling is split across several state bodies, including the Ministerio de Hacienda, the Dirección General de Casinos y Juegos de Azar, the Lotería Nacional, and the Dirección General de Impuestos Internos (DGII). Tabar says that dispersion makes integrated oversight harder and strengthens the case for a dedicated regulator with the main licensing and supervisory powers in one place.
4. The reform discussion is running alongside a bill moving through the Congreso Nacional to create a single regulatory framework for gambling. That proposal would unify the licensing and sanctioning regime for different market participants, and it would cover lottery betting shops, casinos, and betting platforms under common rules and more uniform enforcement mechanisms.
5. While the legislative process continues, Tabar urged business owners, concessionaires, and authorities to avoid operational changes or changes to existing permit status until any new law takes effect. He also said the reorganization could help curb the spread of informal betting shops and tighten market control, with the government aiming for a more orderly and more auditable lotteries-and-betting system supported by technology and updated rules.