Teófilo 'Quico' Tabar, coordinator of the Dominican Republic's Oversight Council for the Regularization of Gambling, said he will propose that once the country's new Gaming Law is approved, every gambling operation running outside the limits set by the legislation be reviewed and, where warranted, suspended.
The bill has already cleared the Chamber of Deputies and would create a General Directorate of Gaming. President Luis Abinader introduced it to Congress. Legislators, gaming companies and industry associations have disagreed over several of its provisions.
Tabar said he will recommend suspending immediately any decision that changes the status of gambling operations, so that such moves are not later tied to actions open to challenge. He called on operators, employees and public officials in the sector to hold off on changes affecting the current status of a business or its permits until the new regulatory framework is finished.
Who the review covers
Under the draft, any activity outside the limits set by the earlier regularization decrees falls to the bodies named under the new law and to the oversight council, which seats representatives of different segments of the gaming industry. Tabar has coordinated the regularization process since 2022, appointed by decree 63-22 of 9 February 2022. The executive later reactivated the council by decree 197-26 of 26 March 2026 and widened its powers: the mandate had covered lotteries, and now covers all gaming activity.
For operators in the Dominican Republic, that is a reason to freeze licence transactions and any re-registration of business status until the final vote. The council is asking for exactly that. What follows depends on how quickly the bill moves and how hard the new Directorate goes after operations that stayed outside regulation for years.
