Dominican Republic reactivates national gambling regularization plan to formalise pending operators

The Dominican government has reactivated, rather than newly created, its National Regularization Plan for lottery shops, betting outlets, agencies and other gambling operators, citing a high volume of pending applications left unresolved after the deadlines originally set in 2022.

The measure was formalised through Decree No. 197-26, under which the Poder Ejecutivo ordered the reactivation of the Plan Nacional de Regularización for lottery betting shops, points of sale, agencies and sports betting outlets, with the stated objective of completing the sector’s cleansing, validation and formalisation process. The decree was publicised by the Presidency on 15 April 2026 and signed on 26 March 2026.

The government explicitly linked the decision to the backlog created after the 2022 regularisation window expired. According to the Presidency and the decree text itself, the deadlines granted by the then Ministry of Finance — now the Ministry of Finance and Economy after the 2025 merger reform — had already run out, but the volume of requests from betting shops, agencies and points of sale seeking to join the plan made an extension necessary.

This means the current move should be understood as a renewed phase of an older policy, not as an entirely new programme. The original framework came from Decree 63-22 and Resolution 061-2022, which in February 2022 declared regularisation of lottery betting shops to be of national interest and gave operators 120 days to bring their permits into line, before that deadline was later extended until 1 August 2022 by Resolution 206-2022.

The reactivated plan also gives a stronger operational role to the Dirección General de Impuestos Internos (DGII). Under Article 2 of the decree, DGII will verify tax compliance by operators, facilitate the provisional incorporation of regularised establishments into the relevant tax regime, and support inspection and control processes linked to the national regularisation plan.

At the same time, the government has reorganised the Consultative Council that follows the plan. The body now includes representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Economy, DGII, INDOTEL, OGTIC, the National Lottery, lottery-shop and sportsbook associations, casino interests, the National Horse Racing Commission and other sector participants, with the National Lottery administrator temporarily acting as coordinator.

In practical terms, the decree signals that Santo Domingo wants to move unfinished operators out of a grey zone and into a more visible legal and tax framework. The policy is therefore not just about licensing cleanup, but about strengthening fiscal control, institutional coordination and day-to-day oversight across a fragmented gambling market. If the government follows through, this reactivation could become one of the Dominican Republic’s most important formalisation steps in gambling since the 2022 push first began.