Basic law: Ley No. 351 (1964) and subsequent amendments (Dominican Republic)

The Dominican Republic regulates the casino industry based on Ley No. 351-64 - a law that since 1964 authorizes the issuance of licenses for gambling halls and lays down the tourist orientation of the sector. The document was repeatedly supplemented and "tuned" by fiscal and administrative amendments in order to combine the interests of tourism, budget and control.

1) What anchored Ley No. 351-64 (1964)

The purpose of the law is to promote tourism and provide additional income by allowing licensing of game halls in "hotels of the first category and other places of a comparable level," subject to taxes and the conditions of the law.

Licensing: The executive branch (through the relevant body) is authorized to issue licenses; failure to pay the established fees entails cancellation of the license.

The basic requirements for operation and the list of grounds for revoking/suspending licenses developed in later norms and amendments, but the original 1964 frame remained the starting point for all subsequent acts.

2) Early changes: 1965 and late 1980s

1965: point adjustment of procedures (secondary editing of operating standards, e.g. in Art. 2), which confirmed the "hotel" orientation and the requirement for compliance with the location of gambling halls.

• Ley No. 96-88 officially authorized casinos to operate slot machines (slots) and simultaneously imposed a slot ban on Dominican citizens, restricting access to them by foreign tourists; the right to control is with the inspectors of the tax service.
• Reglamento No. 252-89 established in detail the procedure for the operation of slots (including provisions for restricting Dominican access to slots and documentary control of the identity of visitors).

3) 1998 tax settings (Art. 14)

Ley No. 24-98 changed Art. 14 of the basic law, introducing a single (simplified) tax regime for casinos, where the amount of obligations is tied to geography and the number of tables in work. This became the prototype of the subsequent scale with categories by province and resort.

4) 2006 System Recycling - Ley No. 29-06

• Administration: the law stipulates that the Casino Commission maintains an open register of the "responsible administration" of each casino; administrator replacements and license transfers require Executive approval.
• License revocation and control procedure: the ability to temporarily or finally revoke licenses for gross violations and for reasons of public order has been confirmed.
• Opening hours: the standard time frame for tables and slots is fixed (from 16:00 to 06:00), execution is entrusted to the Casino Commission.
• Table tax (updated Art. 14): three placement categories detailed (Capital District/Santo Dominigo; "large" provinces of tourist traffic; other zones) and monthly rates for each tabletop indexed by CPI (7.5% limit per year).
• Fixed payment by slots: a single monthly tax is established for each car with differentiation by location; additionally defined requirements for the premises of Bokmekersky "bankas" (including a ban on proximity to schools/hospitals and mandatory signs "18 +").

5) Related norms and "reference" sources

The Ministry of Finance/Casino Commission portal systematically refers to Ley 351-64 (in modified form) as a licensing base and lists key acts: Ley 96-88 (slots), Ley 29-06 (large-scale audit), Ley 140-02 (aspect of sports "bankas"), as well as procedural regulations.

In the official history of DGII tax instruments, taxes on tables (Art. 14 Ley 351-64 with amendments 405-69, 24-98, 29-06, 139-11) and on slots (Ley 96-88 and subsequent corrections) are allocated in a separate block.

6) Where Ley 351-64 got into the modern "frame"

Although the basic law refers to land casinos, it remains the foundation for the permitting system and fiscal logic to which other regulatory blocks (lotteries, bankas, sports) are "fastened." In parallel, a digital circuit is developing: in 2024, the Ministry of Finance adopted Resolución No. 136-2024, which established a licensing procedure for Internet games (iGaming/betting) is an independent layer of regulation, but it relies on existing institutions of control and compliance.

7) Practical consequences for operators and the market

Binding to tourist clusters: historically, licenses were issued with a focus on hotel infrastructure, which disciplined the geography of casinos.

Casino Commission - "operating center" of the ground segment: registers, hours, approvals, control.

Taxes "on tables/machines" simplify the administration and predictability of fees, while indexation protects fiscal revenues from inflation.

Access to resident slots is traditionally limited; this is an element of social policy and tourism specialization.

8) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The main casino law in the DR? Ley No. 351-64, with amendments and regulations.

What are the most important amendments? Ley 96-88 (slots and access restrictions), Ley 24-98 (tax formula Art. 14), Ley 29-06 (hours, registers, tax scales, conditions of recalls).

Who licenses today? Ministry of Finance/Casino Commission; basic services and procedures are posted on the agency's websites.

Online Games? In 2024, a separate licensing procedure was introduced (Resolución 136-2024), which does not cancel the Ley 351 value for the ground segment.

Ley No. 351-64 is the legal "core" of the Dominican casino market: it set the tourist orientation, licensing model and fiscal principles, and the 1988, 1998 and 2006 amendments turned this framework into a working mechanism with understandable clocks, registers and taxes. Today, a digital layer (online licensing) is added to this "skeleton," but the architecture of the ground sector remains based on the provisions of 1964 and their systemic modernization.