Dominican Republic – Online Casinos & Gambling Regulations
The Dominican Republic enjoys a regulated gambling market for both land-based and online operations. The Caribbean island nation has relied on gambling in the past to help boost its tourism revenues, which it heavily relies on. That is why the nation’s current gambling regulations can be traced all the way back to 1964. This law was however updated in 2006 to incorporate online establishments. What all of this essentially means is that Dominican players have a great amount of choice when it comes to legitimate casinos, both online and land-based.
Top casinos in Dominican Republic – Online Casinos & Gambling Regulations
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The Dominican Republic enjoys a regulated gambling market for both land-based and online operations. The Caribbean island nation has relied on gambling in the past to help boost its tourism revenues, which it heavily relies on. That is why the nation’s current gambling regulations can be traced all the way back to 1964. This law was however updated in 2006 to incorporate online establishments. What all of this essentially means is that Dominican players have a great amount of choice when it comes to legitimate casinos, both online and land-based.
Find the Best Dominican Casino Online
A regulated casino market tends to build up a lot of competition, where all operators offer something slightly different. This is something you will need to account for when looking to find a new site to play at. Precautions will also still need to be taken when considering the reliability and trustworthiness of a site, despite the fact that the country enjoys a regulated market, as it always pays to be vigilant. When you can confirm the legitimacy of an establishment, only then should you be asking yourself questions about localization and promotional availability. Take a look at the questions below and see if you can answer them all for a particular site you may be looking at.
- Is the casino licensed and regulated?
- Can you find any player feedback about the site?
- Are there Spanish language options?
- Is my preferred currency supported?
- Can you use your preferred payment methods?
- Does the site also offer a sportsbook?
An alternative to doing all the research yourself is by checking in with us at GoodLuckMate. We provide comprehensive reviews and articles that are written by unbiased industry veterans. Our articles are thoroughly researched and assembled in a succinct manner, meaning that you can spend less time doing homework and more time in the action.
Gambling Regulation - Directorate of Casinos and Games of Chance
While online regulations were first enacted in 2006, it wasn’t until 2011 that the first license was granted to the Amaya Gaming Group, which runs notable sites like PokerStars and FullTilt. This license was the first and only one given out by the Directorate of Casinos and Games of Chance, which is the Dominican gambling authority. Instead, it is usually a case of gaining permission to offer gambling services to the nation’s residents, rather than requiring a separate license.
The Secretaria de Estado de Deportes is responsible for the sports betting side of things. Land-based establishments have been able to offer sportsbooks since 1999, with the requirement of needing a license from the Ministry of Finance. Sports betting online is not affected by this and remains as largely available as other formats of gambling.
Localized Online Casinos
The regulated nature of the Dominican gambling market, as well as the online industry’s current focus on the Latin American market, means that things are looking good for the small island nation. There are a lot of online casinos that are currently looking to enter or expand upon their Latin American operations. This means that there has already been a notable increase in Spanish language support, localized currencies, payment options and promotions. This increase is only set to rise as more and more establishments look towards providing their services to Spanish speaking player bases.
It may still be difficult to find casinos that support Dominican pesos though, which can also be the case when looking for tailor-made promotions. This means you may have to spend a little extra time looking for the right site for you.
Gambling with Dominican pesos
The unfortunate consequence of Dominican pesos is that they are simply not that widely used, relatively speaking. This means that there is less incentive for a site to put in the time and resources required to support the currency. Most online casinos will tend to offer euros or US dollars as a default currency, which you will have to settle with, in most cases. You could however look for casinos that support cryptocurrencies instead. This will allow you to use your pesos to purchase cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoins, which can then be used to wager on your player account. This is a popular method of circumnavigating additional currency exchange fees, as well as potentially limited payment method availability.
Dispute resolution – can I get help from a third party?
A gambling license is intended to protect players, and one of its main functions is to provide a mechanism for resolving disputes when they come up. If you have a dispute with a casino, and the casino is being unreasonable, the gambling authority will help you. For many licenses, this means you can contact the gambling authority to get help processing your withdrawals, claiming money the casino has debited from your account, or resolving other disputes that might arise. The likelihood that the gambling authority will help you in ways that are effective, however, depends on the procedures they have in place for this. This is yet another reason why choosing to play at a casino that has a safe license is important.
Getting help directly from the gambling authority is not always necessary, or even an option. A lot of regulators have now enforced third-party dispute resolution. This means casinos must have an agreement with an arbitrator who will look into disputes on the behalf of players from a particular casino. This ensures your dispute will be reviewed by an objective third party. All trusted online casinos have information about arbitration on their websites if they use this option, or they’ll have the contact information for the gambling authority you should consult. However, you should always try to resolve your issues with the casino first, and a lot of casinos have separate email addresses specifically for handling complaints.
Secure payments – can I trust a casino with my money?
If you’re worried about the security of the transactions you’re making at a casino, you should look for a logo with the acronym PCI DSS. This stands for Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, and this is something the payment industry has created. If you see this logo, it means the casino can be trusted for safe money transactions since they follow all of the rules set by the payment industry. Information about this can also be found in an FAQ section on the casino’s website.
Another thing to look out for in terms of payments is where your money is kept while you play. Some gambling authorities, all of the best ones actually, regulate what the casino can do with your money while they are holding it. Your money shouldn’t go into a general bank account held by the casino; it should go into an account that is strictly for holding player funds. This means that as long as you have the money in your player account, it can’t be spent by the casino. Your deposit will be kept separate from the operating funds of the casino until your player account is empty, which will happen if you make a funds withdrawal or if you lose the money while playing.Fair gaming – do the games give me a fair chance to win?
The best known system tool for ensuring that a casino offers fair games is eCogra; however, there are other providers that also offer these kinds of systems. You want to make sure that the casino is using a certified third-party control system to ensure that the games of chance you’re playing are actually based on chance and not on other types of metrics. Rigged games are ones that have been set up to pay out less than they claim to or ones that give some players a greater chance of winning than others.
The eCogra logo can often be found in the footer of the casino’s website, but not all casinos choose to display it. If you can’t see this logo, go to the FAQs and see if you can find information about random number generators. If there are no FAQs on the site, check out their terms and conditions or contact the casino’s support and ask how they ensure their games are safe.
Encrypted website – how is my information kept safe?
An SSL-encrypted website should be mandatory for any casino, and very few casinos operate without this or similar safe encryption features. Always keep in mind that you are giving the casino quite a bit of sensitive information, including your payment details. When you’re uploading and sending documents to verify your identity, you want to make sure that no unauthorized third-party has access to them. Site security, therefore, doesn’t only include the website itself but also what the casino does on the backend. You should always look into a casino’s data security. You’ll normally find information about this in their terms and conditions and their privacy policy. If in doubt, contact their support and ask for more detailed information.
Most trustworthy casinos have information about site security in the website footer, so simply scroll down and look for the logo of a well-known security system.
Gambling license – can I play at a casino from my country?
The gambling license a casino operates under will have a big impact on your security. Not all licenses are equally safe for players for the simple reason that they are issued by different gambling authorities that work in different ways and have different rules. The rules and regulations may be quite similar, but the way they are enforced is a different story entirely. For example, if a casino doesn’t comply with the regulations, some gambling authorities may just issue a fine while others may revoke the casino’s license outright. How often gambling authorities show up for an unscheduled inspection or control will also vary.
The biggest differences between a safe, high quality gambling license and one that isn’t as good will usually show up in the areas of fair gaming, dispute resolution and the rules and systems for identifying and handling problem gamblers (responsible gambling). If your country of residence has its own gambling authority, playing at casinos that are licensed by them will be the safest option for you. Other international licenses that can be trusted are issued by the Malta Gambling Authority and the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority. Curacao eGaming is getting better at protecting players whereas licenses from Panama and Costa Rica, for instance, are considered less safe. The worst option is obviously a casino with no license whatsoever.
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