Dominican Lottery Chief Quico Tabar Sworn In as Interim Head of the New Gambling Regulator

Finance Minister Magín Díaz has sworn in the administrator of the National Lottery to run the Dirección General de Juegos de Azar until it is built. He keeps both his existing posts, although the law that created the regulator bars its director general from holding any other public office.

• Finance and Economy Minister Magín Díaz swore in Teófilo José Abrahán Leo "Quico" Tabar Manzur on Monday 5 October as transitional director general of the Dirección General de Juegos de Azar (DGJA), the regulator created by Law 86-26, according to the ministry
• President Luis Abinader appointed him by Decree 684-26 on 2 October, the day Law 86-26 was published and took effect, and the law abolishes the ministry's old Dirección de Casinos y Juegos de Azar (DCJA)
• Tabar remains administrator of the National Lottery, a post he has held on an honorary basis since 2021, and coordinator of the regularisation of betting shops, the ministry says
• Article 17 of the law requires the director general to hold no other public office except teaching; neither the presidency nor the ministry has said how that applies to a transitional appointment
• Under Article 185 he exercises the DGJA's powers provisionally, supervised by the Consejo de Juegos de Azar and working with the former DCJA's staff, until the regulator's own structure is in place

A Familiar Face Takes the Oath for a Regulator That Exists Mostly on Paper

Magín Díaz, minister of finance and economy, swore in Tabar on Monday 5 October, according to a ministry release dated 6 October; Diario Libre, Hoy and Noticias SIN reported the ceremony that evening. Abinader appointed Tabar by Decree 684-26, issued on Friday 2 October, the day Law 86-26 appeared in Gaceta Oficial 11263, according to the presidency. Both the presidency and the ministry describe the appointment as transitional. The decree also tasks the advisory council created in 2021 by Decree 533-21, which has advised the National Lottery since then, with advising the DGJA's authorities, on an honorary basis, on improving its internal procedures.

The ministry's account of the ceremony is brief. Díaz highlighted the sector's challenges and Tabar's experience, and stressed the need to keep strengthening the regulation and supervision of gambling in line with government policy on transparency and compliance, according to the release. Tabar thanked the minister for his confidence and said he would continue the regularisation and institutional strengthening processes under way at the DGJA. Neither set out priorities, dates or targets in the ministry's account.

Three Roles Held by One Official

Tabar keeps his other jobs. The ministry says he takes the DGJA post while continuing as administrator of the National Lottery and coordinator of the Proceso de Regularización de Bancas de Juegos de Azar. He took over the Lottery on an interim, honorary basis in May 2021, when Abinader suspended its administrator by Decree 334-21 during a fraud investigation into a Lottery draw, Yogonet reported, and Decree 533-21 confirmed him that August. Decree 63-22 of February 2022 put him in charge of the betting shop regularisation, and Decree 197-26 of 26 March 2026 widened the oversight council he coordinates to every form of gambling, according to his own statement reported by Diario Libre in July.

This is his second spell at the head of the state's gambling supervisor. In February 2022 he took office as provisional, honorary director of the DCJA under ministry resolution 061-2022, to run the regularisation of betting shops, Acento reported. Claudia Álvarez Troncoso, a lawyer specialising in anti-money laundering and compliance, replaced him in May 2023, according to Focus Gaming News. The ministry's release does not name the official who led the DCJA until the law abolished it, and iGaming Times could not confirm who that was.

Article 17 of Law 86-26 sets the requirements for the director general: Dominican nationality, an age of 25 or over, a university education, no corporate, employment or other link with betting and gambling businesses in the five years before appointment, and no other public office or employment, with the exception of teaching. Article 21 lists the draws of the Lotería Nacional among the gambling activities the law regulates. Neither the presidency's announcement of the decree nor the ministry's release refers to Article 17.

Continuity Is the Case for Tabar, and the Law's Own Test Is the Case Against

The practical argument for the appointment is strong. Article 185 needs someone to exercise the DGJA's powers from the day the law took effect, and the ministry had suspended new permit applications and inspections until a director general was named, as we reported on Monday. Tabar has run the betting shop regularisation since 2022 and has led the department the DGJA replaces. But Article 17 was written to keep the regulator's chief apart from the rest of government and from the businesses it supervises, and the interim chief runs a state lottery whose draws the law itself regulates. Congress set aside the June bill that would have made the National Lottery the regulator in favour of an autonomous DGJA; the transitional arrangement puts one person at the head of both. Whether "transitional" is the government's legal answer to Article 17 or simply a description, it has not said.

The Interim Period Has No End Date, and Its Decisions Stand

Article 185 runs until the DGJA's structure is "established and put into operation", with no fixed date. The council must issue the regulator's internal rules and structure within 120 days under Article 194, and the president must issue implementing regulations within 90 days under Article 193, so the earliest natural moment for a permanent appointment is early 2027. Until then, Article 185 gives every decision taken during the transition full legal validity, and the 12-month window for existing operators to register, which decides who is inside the ten-year freeze on new licences, is already running. Neither the ministry nor the presidency has said whether the suspension of permit procedures has been lifted, and the ministry's notice announcing it is no longer online. Nor do their announcements mention the three members of the Consejo de Juegos de Azar whom the president names under Article 9, the body that is meant to supervise Tabar in the meantime.

The Dominican Republic has given its new regulator an interim chief who knows the betting shop sector as well as anyone in government. On a plain reading of the law that created the post, he would not qualify to hold it permanently while he keeps the other two.