• Legislation introduced by Senator Pedro Tineo proposes converting the Dominican Republic’s National Lottery from a Ministry of Finance and Economy unit into an independent state institution with expanded regulatory powers
• The reform would consolidate oversight of lotteries, sports betting, casinos and electronic gaming under a single body, with tax collection remaining at the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII)
• The bill follows Decree 197-26 launching the National Regularisation Plan for lottery offices, betting shops and gaming businesses, aimed at formalising operators and improving compliance
• The accompanying fiscal package is projected to raise between DOP 40 billion ($670 million) and DOP 50 billion ($838 million), including a temporary three-percentage-point Corporate Income Tax surcharge for companies above DOP 1 billion ($16.8 million) in annual revenue
• Higher taxes on gambling and casinos are flagged in the package but the specifics have not yet been published, leaving the Dominican Republic’s online gambling framework in a phase of structural transition

A Single Regulator Would Replace a Split Oversight Model

The Dominican Republic is preparing the most significant restructuring of its gambling regulation in years. Lawmakers are reviewing a bill that would transform the country’s National Lottery from a unit operating under the Ministry of Finance and Economy into an independent state institution charged with regulating the gambling sector as a whole. The legislation was introduced by Senator Pedro Tineo, who has framed a centralised structure as the route to improved oversight and faster formalisation of the industry.

Under the current model, regulatory responsibilities are divided across different bodies, with elements split between the National Lottery and the Directorate of Casinos and Games of Chance. According to the bill, the National Lottery would become the primary authority for lotteries, sports betting, casinos, electronic gaming operations and other gambling activities in the Dominican Republic, while tax collection would remain with the DGII. The Lottery itself would focus on inspection, regulation, licensing oversight and enforcement.

The proposal arrives alongside a regularisation effort launched under Decree 197-26, which created a National Regularisation Plan for lottery offices, betting shops and gaming businesses. According to the executive, the plan’s purpose is to bring more operators into the formal economy, strengthen compliance standards and improve tax collection across the sector. National Lottery Administrator Teófilo Tabar has been appointed as temporary head of the programme during the transition.

The gambling reform is one component of a wider fiscal package presented by Finance and Economy Minister Magín Díaz, who described the measures as intended to strengthen public finances while protecting vulnerable groups and maintaining investment in public services. Officials estimate the package could generate between DOP 40 billion ($670 million) and DOP 50 billion ($838 million) in additional annual revenue. The headline measure is a temporary three-percentage-point surcharge on Corporate Income Tax for companies generating more than DOP 1 billion ($16.8 million) in annual revenue, lifting the rate to 30% until the end of 2028. The package also includes higher fees on electronic transfers, a new tax on electronic cigarettes and a $10 increase in airline ticket taxes. Authorities have confirmed that gambling and casinos are also in scope for higher taxation, but the specifics have not yet been released.

Consolidating Regulation in One Body Has Obvious Upside and One Underrated Risk

The strongest argument for the bill is administrative. A single regulator for lotteries, sports betting, casinos and electronic gaming is easier to staff, easier to coordinate with payment providers and digital platforms, and easier for licensees to engage with than a structure that splits responsibility across institutions with overlapping mandates. The model the Dominican Republic is moving toward also matches what most modern European and Latin American markets have already adopted. The underrated risk sits on the other side of the same coin. Concentrating authority in a body that has historically been an operator of one product line, the national lottery, creates a real institutional question about whether the new regulator can hold competing verticals to the same standard. The answer will depend less on the legal text than on how the National Lottery’s leadership separates its commercial heritage from its supervisory mandate.

The Fiscal Package Is the Reason the Reform Will Move Quickly

The reform is unlikely to be assessed on its regulatory merits alone, because it is tied to a fiscal package projected to raise up to DOP 50 billion ($838 million). According to the finance ministry, the package addresses immediate revenue pressures while protecting vulnerable groups, and the corporate-tax surcharge alone signals that the government is prepared to ask large businesses to absorb a meaningful share of the adjustment. Gambling and casinos are flagged for higher taxation but without specifics, which is a familiar pattern in Latin American reform packages and one that tends to compress consultation timelines once the figures are published. Operators in the regulated sector should expect the regulatory restructuring and the tax changes to move together rather than separately, because together they form the basis of the government’s revenue case.

The Bigger Test Is Whether Formalisation Outpaces the Grey Market

The reform’s longest-term significance lies in channelisation, even if the bill does not use the word. The accompanying National Regularisation Plan exists because a meaningful share of the Dominican Republic’s gambling activity has historically sat outside formal oversight. Higher taxes on the regulated sector, applied while the new regulator is still building capacity, will increase the cost difference between licensed operations and the informal alternatives that the regularisation plan is meant to absorb. If the new National Lottery moves quickly to license the operators currently outside the perimeter and to disrupt those that resist, the reform reinforces itself. If formalisation lags and tax pressure rises on the licensed sector alone, the grey market grows and the new regulator faces the kind of structural channelisation problem that has tripped up more established jurisdictions. The bill sets the institutional architecture. The next phase will be judged on whether that architecture absorbs more of the industry into the legal market than it pushes out of it.