Licensing and regulation: Can we get a licence?

Costa Rica has no dedicated online-gambling licence category and no JPS-issued betting authorisation; the standing structural position is that operators rely on municipal data-processing certificates issued under a 1922-era gambling law that predates any concept of digital wagering. This is a mixed-durability arrangement: the underlying statute is old but stable primary legislation, while the certificate-based practice built on top of it is an improvised operational workaround rather than a purpose-built licensing regime, and could be displaced entirely by future legislation. The most advanced attempt to close this gap, Bill 25.057, which would have created the first dedicated JPS online-gambling licensing framework, was rejected by the Legislative Assembly's Security and Narcotrafficking Commission in January 2026. No conditions for licence applications, renewals, suspensions, or revocations exist because no licence exists to apply for, renew, suspend, or revoke; the framework remains entirely aspirational pending a successor bill's passage.