This policy banned the opening of any more sports betting shops until 2021. He explained that the largest operators in the area are Presidente, Merengue, Juancito, Gogo, JD, Dugout, Play, Bachata, and Maxis.
There are now 1,832 sports betting shops in the Dominican Republic with the majority located in the cities of Santo Domingo, Santiago de los Caballeros, Higüey, La Romana, San Cristóbal and La Vega.
American sports are the most popular particularly baseball which generates at least 70% of all sports betting while the NBA, college basketball, NFL football and ice hockey account for the bulk of the remaining 30%, he said.
Sports betting is extremely popular in the Dominican Republic and the industry had been growing at a fast pace before the government put a cap on the number of betting shops. Their number increased by 74% from 800 in 2000, to 1,393 in 2006, according to statistics released jointly by the Ministry of Sports and the National Federation of Lottery Betting Parlors (FENEBANCA) growing at a rate of 30% a year.
Sports betting has been permitted since 1991 when the government placed the industry under the supervision of the Sports Ministry which was granted permission to grant licences and oversee the industry. However, the law was amended in 2006 to rule that slot machines could only be present in sport betting shops or in casinos. Before then slot machines were widely present in grocery shops and other small businesses.
Source: GMB / G3 Newswire
