Costa Rica gambling licence: no online licence

The Ley de Juegos prohibits games of chance, and the exceptions are state-run: the JPS holds lotteries, sports betting and the other chance products by law, and casinos are allowed only in hotels. No law licenses a private online casino, poker room or sportsbook on its own account.

• A foreign licence gives no right to serve Costa Rican players, and no article recognises one.
• How the market gets round it: Spanish-language sites run from abroad serve Costa Rican players. From a Costa Rican network on 10 November 2026 the home pages of DoradoBet, Betcris and Stake loaded without a block page, and none states a Costa Rican licence (operator statements). No authority has a power to block a site, payment or app; from 25 June 2027 the JPS may ask a court for a precautionary order to block unauthorised gambling content, and the order is the court's.
• Firms based in Costa Rica that receive and process data generating electronic bets for bookmakers abroad (empresas de enlace) need a municipal permit and pay the Ley 9050 annual tax by headcount; that is not a gambling licence, and there is no 'data-processing certificate'. No law names such a firm in barring bets from residents, but the JPS's exclusivity covers the national territory.
• No Costa Rican decision against an online operator appears. The cases against the hub are US federal ones: San José-based firms charged in the Western District of Missouri (2010) and the Western District of Oklahoma (2013), and an offshore sportsbook's forfeiture of over USD 46.8 million in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (2020).

Laws that apply

• Ley 3 of 31 August 1922 (Ley de Juegos): games decided by chance are prohibited (art. 1); fines for players and arrest for keepers of prohibited games (arts. 4-6)
• Ley 8718 of 17 February 2009: the JPS holds the exclusive creation, administration, sale and marketing of lotteries, sports betting, games, video-lotteries and other chance products, except casinos (art. 2)
• Ley 7395 of 3 May 1994 (Ley de Loterías): the JPS is the sole administrator of lotteries (art. 2)
• JPS Reglamento 16 of 10 March 2021: concessions to sell JPS lotteries, bets and lottery games on the web; Reglamento 40 of 24 July 2024: the JPS web shop
• Ley 9050 of 9 July 2012 and Decreto Ejecutivo 39231-MSP-MH of 27 July 2015: hotel casinos and the taxes on casinos and empresas de enlace
• Ley 7786 (AML law), art. 15 bis: casinos, including Internet casinos operating from Costa Rica, register with SUGEF
• Ley 10946 of 8 June 2026 (digital services): from 25 June 2027, the operator and its JPS authorisation number in digital gambling advertising (art. 26) and court blocking of unauthorised gambling content at the JPS's request (art. 37)

A legal person, national or foreign, may sell the JPS's own lotteries, bets and lottery games on the web under a JPS concession, in three categories: electronic lotteries, bets and events, and lottery games. It sells JPS products, not its own.

• The JPS board grants each concession by a two-thirds vote; the pilot allowed at most two concessions per category, reviewed every six months. No concession award appears as of 10 November 2026, and the JPS menu offers only its own lotteries.
• The applicant must be certified by an international gambling body recognised by CIBELAE or the World Lottery Association, hold a bank account at a Costa Rican bank supervised by SUGEF, register with SUGEF once a concessionaire, name a compliance officer and show contracts of at least one year selling games of chance by digital means.
• Each game needs JPS approval with its rules, a market study, sales projections and a probability study; the game names and brands become JPS property.
• The platform must be entirely in Spanish, interconnected in real time with the JPS, hold SSL and cybersecurity certificates and be validated by the JPS IT department; prizes are paid into the player's own IBAN account in colones within two working days.
• A concessionaire may not distribute its games outside Costa Rica, except to Costa Rican nationals living or travelling abroad with accounts in the national banking system.
• The charges are an annual Derecho de Explotación per category, a performance guarantee and a percentage of gross profit, set under the JPS Convenio and Modelo de Negocio, which are not published; the JPS Gerencia de Producción y Comercialización is the body to ask.

The Ministerio de Seguridad Pública authorises a casino only in a hotel rated four stars or more, as a service complementary to the hotel business, taking no more than 15% of the hotel's area.

• The authorisation runs five years and cannot be transferred; the MSP resolves within two months of filing, and the service is free.
• The application lists 14 items, among them the municipal casino patente, the Ministry of Health permit, an engineer's certification of the 15% area rule, an Instituto Costarricense de Turismo certification of at least four stars, and slot-machine documentation showing a return above 85%.
• Each table and slot machine added or removed needs the MSP's authorisation; an unauthorised table or machine costs 10 salarios base each (CRC 4,622,000).
• 37 casinos are on the MSP list of 10 November 2026.

Ley 9050 taxes hotel casinos and the empresas de enlace; games of chance also carry 13% VAT on the stakes.

• Casinos (land-based): 10% of net income a month, plus CRC 277,320 per table and CRC 46,220 per slot machine a month at the CRC 462,200 salario base of 2025 and 2026, filed in TRIBU-CR within the first 15 calendar days of the following month.
• Empresas de enlace: CRC 26,345,400 a year up to 50 employees, CRC 39,287,000 for 51 to 99 and CRC 52,228,600 for 100 or more (57, 85 or 113 salarios base), counting every employee in direct dependency.
• VAT is 13%; a game of chance played by electronic means is taxable when the player is domiciled in Costa Rica, and services used outside the territory are exempt. The JPS's own products are exempt.
• Corporate income tax is 30% on Costa Rican-source income, whatever the nationality, domicile or residence of those involved.
• Players domiciled in Costa Rica pay no tax on winnings; a national-lottery prize paid to a person domiciled abroad bears 30%.

For a company that wants to sell the JPS's own lotteries or bets online. There is no route for its own casino or sportsbook.

1. 01

   Wait for a JPS invitation

   Reglamento 16 art. 4(b), Transitorio I

   Concessions are offered by invitation, published in La Gaceta and digital media; there is no standing window, and the JPS decides how many to grant from market conditions and technical studies.

2. 02

   Prepare the legal person and its certification

   Requisitos of 16 March 2021

   Certification by an international gambling body recognised by CIBELAE or the World Lottery Association, comparative financial statements, shareholding and beneficial-owner certifications, and apostilled or legalised foreign documents.

3. 03

   Open a Costa Rican bank account

   Requisitos, item 12

   An account in the applicant's name at a bank supervised by SUGEF; once a concessionaire, register with SUGEF under arts. 15 and 15 bis of the AML law and name a compliance officer.

4. 04

   File with the JPS and pass selection

   Reglamento 16 arts. 6-7

   The 17 mandatory items go to the JPS ([email protected]); the Gerencia de Producción y Comercialización assesses the offers, and the JPS board approves each concession by a two-thirds vote.

5. 05

   Sign, post the guarantee and validate the platform

   Reglamento 16 arts. 11-17, 26-28

   Sign the Convenio, pay the Derecho de Explotación and post the performance guarantee, have the platform validated by the JPS IT department, and get each game approved before sale.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 10 Nov 2026.