Dominican Republic gambling bill could reduce operators’ outstanding tax debts

Proposed gambling legislation in the Dominican Republic would create a special discount regime for tax and fee arrears accumulated by gaming operators through December 2025, provided businesses first complete their registration and regularisation requirements.

A gambling reform bill under consideration in the Dominican Republic could allow betting shops, lottery outlets and other gaming operators to reduce part of the financial burden associated with outstanding tax debts. The provision appears in Article 192 of the legislation approved with amendments by the Chamber of Deputies in July. Because deputies modified the text, it has returned to the Senate for further review.

Article 192 establishes a proposed “special discount regime” covering arrears in taxes and regulatory fees accumulated by different categories of gambling operators through December 2025. The future General Directorate of Gambling would implement the mechanism through a resolution of the Gambling Council, in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII).

Access would not be automatic. Operators would first have to regularise their status and complete the required registration process. This condition is particularly relevant because the government relaunched its national regularisation programme in April to address a large backlog of lottery shops, betting outlets and other gaming businesses whose licensing or tax status had not yet been fully formalised.

The proposal refers to the discount mechanisms established under Law No. 30-26, adopted on June 18. Importantly, that law does not simply erase the underlying tax principal. It allows significant reductions in late-payment surcharges under specific circumstances: up to 90% for voluntary corrections made before a tax authority request, 70% in certain cases during an audit, 50% following an assessment paid within the voluntary period, and 30% when a taxpayer withdraws an administrative or judicial challenge and pays the determined debt. Tax fraud cases are excluded from these prompt-payment discounts.

Law 30-26 also contains a broader tax-amnesty mechanism. Depending on the status of the debt, qualifying taxpayers may be able to settle obligations by paying the principal tax together with a limited amount of interest and late-payment surcharges, while some eligible debts may be paid in instalments for up to 12 months. Consequently, the gambling bill could reduce the total amount payable, particularly accumulated penalties and interest, rather than necessarily reducing the original tax itself.

The tax provision sits within a much wider overhaul of Dominican gambling regulation. The bill would create a new General Directorate of Gambling, strengthen licensing and enforcement, impose tougher penalties for illegal operations and introduce a unified registration system. It also proposes a 10% tax on gross sales from internet gambling and a ten-year suspension on issuing new lottery-shop licences, subject to limited exceptions.

The legislation is not yet law. The Chamber of Deputies approved it in two consecutive readings on July 24 but made changes to the Senate-approved version. On August 19, Senate Finance Committee chairman Pedro Catrain said lawmakers would review the deputies’ amendments as the new legislative session progressed. The final wording of Article 192 could therefore still change before enactment.

For the Dominican gambling industry, the proposed discount regime could serve as an incentive for previously non-compliant businesses to enter the formal regulatory and tax system. At the same time, its significance depends on the final Senate text and on how the future authorities apply the discounts: the current proposal should be understood as a conditional mechanism for regularising legacy liabilities, not as an unconditional cancellation of gambling operators’ tax debts.