{"id":522778,"date":"2026-08-30T21:11:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T01:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/uncategorized\/project-would-leave-banking-market-in-the-hands-of-current-operators-for-10-years\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T21:11:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T01:11:37","slug":"project-would-leave-banking-market-in-the-hands-of-current-operators-for-10-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/dominican-news\/project-would-leave-banking-market-in-the-hands-of-current-operators-for-10-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Project would leave banking market in the hands of current operators for 10 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The initiative includes discounts on their debts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Santo Domingo.\u2013<\/strong> The owners of lottery<\/strong> and betting shops<\/strong> who manage to get registered under the new gambling regime could become, over the next ten years, the only authorized operators to participate in that market, because the bill approved by the Chamber of Deputies prohibits granting new licenses<\/strong> for a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The provision is contained in article 191 of the gambling bill,<\/strong> which establishes that for ten years no new licenses will be granted to install establishments of this type in the Dominican Republic, with the exception of casinos located in hotels and tourist areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You might be interested in: <\/strong>Senators defend gambling law and claim it seeks to regulate a sector that moves more than RD$1 billion daily<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This would imply that, once the registration and regularization process is completed, the banking business would be closed to new competitors for a decade, while operators already incorporated into the system could continue to operate and renew their authorizations in accordance with the established requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The measure takes on greater relevance because it is part of a set of provisions that also includes discounts on accumulated tax debts, the extension of certain licenses, and economic modifications that would benefit the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Sector
Sector de bancas deportivas plantea posici\u00f3n sobre proyecto de Ley General de Juegos de Azar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The current operators would be left alone in the market<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The prohibition of new licenses does not mean that all the banks currently operating will automatically have the right to remain in operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project establishes registration,<\/strong> regularization, and oversight mechanisms that must be complied with by existing establishments. However, those who manage to formally join the new system would have a decisive advantage: for ten years, no new authorized establishments would be allowed to enter and compete with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the initiative expressly protects acquired rights and consolidated legal situations, and allows for the renewal of existing licenses for a period equivalent to that originally granted, conditional upon a technical evaluation and compliance with the corresponding requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In practical terms, the project would freeze the entry of new players into the market while keeping the possibility of continuity open for those already part of the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 71,000 registered banks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The argument used to justify the moratorium is the number of existing establishments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to official data from the Directorate of Casinos and Gambling of the Ministry of Finance and Economy<\/strong> incorporated into the project, there are more than 71,000 registered lottery and sports betting shops in the Dominican Republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative maintains that the magnitude reached by the sector has made its oversight difficult and proposes temporarily halting expansion so that the State can purge, validate, register, and interconnect existing establishments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The economic consequence of that decision, however, is that the entrepreneurs who remain within the registry would be guaranteed a market without new authorized establishments for a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project would also allow for the reduction of tax debts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The moratorium is not the only provision with economic impact included in the bill. Article 192 creates a so-called “Special discount regime” for debts accumulated by gambling operators due to delays in the payment of taxes and fees until December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The General Directorate of Gambling (DGJA),<\/strong> through a resolution of the Gambling Council<\/strong> and in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII), would have the authority to establish that regime for operators who have regularized and registered themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discounts would be those established in Law no. 30-26, of June 18, 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the project does not legally speak of \u201cforgiveness\u201d or \u201ccancellation\u201d of debts,<\/strong> the application of the discounts could cause certain operators to end up paying a sum lower than the originally accumulated amount, depending on the applicable conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project itself conditions these facilities on the operator having regularized and registered themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Project does not state how much money the State would stop collecting<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Article 192 does not specify how much banks and other gambling operators currently owe the State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nor does it establish in the analyzed text how many companies could benefit, what the total amount of the discounts would be, or how much the treasury would eventually stop collecting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the pending questions are how much the sector currently owes in taxes and fees<\/strong>, how many companies could qualify for the regime, and what the fiscal impact of the measure would be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also remains to be publicly determined who the main beneficiaries would be once the definitive conditions for qualifying for the regime are established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ocho
Ocho legisladores ligados a bancas de apuestas tienen poder de decisi\u00f3n sobre nueva ley de juegos de azar<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers have declared interests in betting businesses<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The debate over these provisions takes on an additional dimension because eight legislators currently holding seats in the National Congress<\/strong>\u2014seven deputies and one senator\u2014have declared properties, shareholdings, or economic ties related to betting shops, lotteries, or other businesses linked to the sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The initiative includes discounts on their debts Santo Domingo.\u2013 The owners of lottery and betting shops who manage to get registered under the new gambling regime could become, over the next ten years, the only authorized operators to participate in that market, because the bill approved by the Chamber of Deputies prohibits granting new licenses […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":522779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[40216],"tags":[43565,44182,44562,44782,42220,40764],"class_list":["post-522778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dominican-news","tag-benches","tag-cover","tag-gambling","tag-lottery-banks","tag-operators","tag-project"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/phj1q1-2bZU","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Captura-de-pantalla-2026-08-30-210922.png","dum_api":{"author_name":"Redacci\u00f3n De \u00daltimo Minuto","author_image":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/cropped-logo-de-ultimo-minuto-96x96.png","categories_name":["Dominican News"],"featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cdn.deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/Captura-de-pantalla-2026-08-30-210922.png"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deultimominuto.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}