Casino and slot-hall operators in the Dominican Republic faced a 14 May 2026 deadline to file their first sworn suitability declarations with the Casino and Gambling Directorate inside the Ministry of Finance and Economy, under External Circular MHE-2026-011897 of 13 April 2026. The deadline comes from Resolution 161-2026 and was set at 30 working days from the date of the resolution.
Resolution 161-2026 establishes the minimum criteria and requirements for evaluating the suitability — under Dominican law, the equivalent of a fit-and-proper assessment — of shareholders or partners, board members, senior management, key collaborators and general personnel of operators and non-financial obligated subjects in the gambling sector.
Article 3 fixes the scope of application: holders of casino, slot-hall and online gambling licences; lottery and lottery-banking concessionaires; sports-betting outlets; bingo and raffle operators; equipment manufacturers; and the responsible administration of casinos and slot halls.
The criteria set out in chapters III and V of the resolution are integrity, reputation, competence, capacity, financial solvency and the prevention of money laundering, terrorist financing and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
The circular also reminds operators that they have a separate two-month window from the publication of Resolution 161-2026 to adjust their manuals, internal policies and operating procedures to the new suitability standards, in tandem with the earlier Resolution 217-2025. The DCJA states explicitly that failure to file, late filing or incomplete filing of these first declarations will be subject to supervision and possible administrative sanction.
The deadline falls against a backdrop of broader regulatory tightening in the Dominican gambling sector. In February 2026, the Ministry of Finance and the Financial and International Business Association signed a cooperation agreement to develop an anti-money-laundering certification programme focused on the Dominican gambling sector. The Senate Finance Committee is, in parallel, working on the merger of two bills overhauling the country’s gambling legal framework. Meanwhile, the executive’s June 2025 gambling bill—proposing the creation of a General Directorate of Gambling (DGJA) within the Ministry of Finance, with licensing authority over fifteen modalities ranging from casinos and slot halls to online betting, electronic bingo, and charitable raffles—is proceeding on a separate track.
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Casino and slot-hall operators in the Dominican Republic faced a 14 May 2026 deadline to file their first sworn suitability declarations with the Casino and Gambling Directorate inside the Ministry of Finance and Economy, under External Circular MHE-2026-011897 of 13 April 2026. The deadline comes from Resolution 161-2026 and was set at 30 working days…
The post Dominican Republic casino operators face strict new rules under new anti-money-laundering regime appeared first on G3 Newswire.