Dominican Republic bill would turn National Lottery into autonomous gambling regulator

The Dominican Republic is considering a Senate bill that would transform the National Lottery from a traditional lottery administrator into an autonomous state body with broad powers over gambling, betting, casinos and gaming venues.

A new bill in the Dominican Republic Senate seeks to transform the National Lottery into a decentralised state body with administrative, financial, economic and technical autonomy. The proposal would give the institution legal personality, its own assets and the power to regulate, inspect, supervise and sanction gambling activities across the country.

The initiative was submitted to the Senate on May 13 by Senator Pedro Tineo of Monte Plata. If approved, the National Lottery would become the governing authority for lottery shops, sports betting shops, casinos, electronic games and other games of chance in the Dominican Republic.

The proposal is designed to address long-standing problems in the sector, including the irregular growth of betting shops, tax evasion, illegal operations and weak controls. It would also require the National Lottery administrator to carry out a national review every six months of lottery, betting and sports-betting outlets, with recommendations on which businesses meet the requirements to continue operating.

The bill also includes a new distribution model for revenue collected by the National Lottery and related betting businesses. According to the proposal, 50% would go to the National Lottery for payroll, social, sports and health assistance; 20% to the national treasury through the Ministry of Finance; 10% to the Ombudsman’s Office; 10% to a health-pension department for elderly people; and 10% to Promese/Cal for catastrophic diseases.

The initiative comes as the Dominican Republic is already debating wider reform of its gambling framework. In March, the Senate Finance Committee advanced work on merging two separate gambling and betting bills, saying the objective was to create clearer rules for authorisation, supervision, tax collection, participant rights, fraud prevention and responsible gambling.

This latest proposal differs from the Executive Branch’s earlier reform bill, which sought to create a General Directorate of Casinos and Games of Chance under the Ministry of Finance. That 2025 proposal would have centralised registration, control, supervision and licensing for casinos, sports betting, lottery houses, online betting, slot machines, virtual games and raffles under a new DGJA structure.

For the Dominican gambling market, the new Senate initiative signals that lawmakers are still searching for the best institutional model for regulation. Turning the National Lottery into an autonomous regulator could concentrate oversight in a long-established public institution, but it would also require clear separation between lottery operations and regulatory enforcement. The final impact will depend on whether Congress approves the proposal and how it reconciles it with other reform projects already under discussion.