Proposal to Require Licenses for Cruise Ships with Onboard Casinos Entering the Dominican Republic

This is the proposal of a draft resolution that the Ministry of Finance and Economy has just submitted for public comment and recommendations.

This is the first instrument from this institution seeking to regulate a component of cruise tourism, a segment that is increasingly booming in the country: in 2025 alone, 788 ships arrived in the Dominican Republic with 2,815,732 visitors on board, according to official data.

If approved, the resolution will require all first-class vessels—that is, those with a capacity exceeding 2,000 passengers—to obtain a license authorizing this activity, given that cruise ship casinos "can be used as instruments for money laundering and the financing of terrorism."

Therefore, the document considers it imperative to apply the same regulations to cruise ships sailing or docking in Dominican maritime territory as those currently applied to gambling establishments in first-class hotels.

Bond and Fees
The draft establishes that license holders must obtain a performance bond of 20 million pesos—or its equivalent in dollars—which must be submitted to the Directorate of Casinos and Gambling of the Ministry of Finance and Economy.

The license issuance fee will be 1 million pesos for cruise ships with between 2,000 and 3,499 passengers and 1.5 million pesos for those with a capacity of 3,500 passengers or more.

This license authorizes the operation of only one gaming room per ship and cannot be extended or shared with other vessels owned by the same license holder.

Once issued, the license will be valid for five years, and its renewal will cost 50% of the issuance fee in effect during the year in which the renewal is requested.

Annual Operating Fees
In addition, the annual operation of the gaming rooms will be subject to operating fees according to the following scale:

Casinos with between 1 and 20 tables: must pay 600,000 pesos annually
Between 21 and 40 tables: will pay 700,000 pesos annually
From table 41 onwards: will pay 800,000 pesos annually.

Each cruise ship is limited to a maximum of 15 entries into national waters throughout the year. Therefore, the holder of a casino license for cruise ships must pay 15,000 pesos for each additional entry.

These fees must be paid by the operator to the National Treasury after submitting the license application, either in pesos or dollars, and will be indexed to 100% of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).