Costa Rica's gambling sector operates without a dedicated online-gambling licensing framework, governed instead by a 1922-era gambling statute and municipal data-processing certificates that were never designed for digital wagering. This structural gap has persisted despite renewed legislative attention: the Legislative Assembly's Security and Narcotrafficking Commission rejected Bill 25.057, the most advanced attempt to create a JPS-issued online-gambling licensing framework, in January 2026, and a successor measure, Bill 25.600, has since been introduced proposing modernization of the Junta de Proteccion Social alongside real-time monitoring and financial-intelligence-unit linkage. Neither instrument has reached enactment this cycle. As a civil-law jurisdiction reforming from a position of no dedicated gambling regulator, Costa Rica's posture remains one of legislative intent outpacing statutory delivery, leaving market structure and operator population effectively unregulated pending the outcome of the current reform attempt.
Jurisdictions › Costa Rica › Overview
Costa Rica · Question 01 of 11
Overview: What kind of market is this?
Mixed · Confirmed · AI-generated · Back to full Costa Rica report →
Key section parameters
| Jurisdiction | Costa Rica (CR) |
|---|---|
| Regulator | No dedicated gambling regulator (Ministerio de Hacienda / Municipal Patent Regime) |
| Favourability | Mixed |
| Confidence | Confirmed |
| Review status | AI-generated |
| Last collected | 18 Oct 2026 |
Summary answer
Costa Rica's gambling sector operates without a dedicated online-gambling licensing framework, governed instead by a 1922-era gambling statute and municipal data-processing certificates that were never designed for digital wagering. This structural gap has persisted despite renewed legislative atten…
Key headwinds & conditions
- PSP and correspondent-bank de-risking of CR-registered gambling entities
- No regulatory credibility — 'licence' is a corporate registration
- Host-country enforcement is the operative legal risk