Online Gambling

Introduction:

Costa Rica is the Mecca of online casinos because it has the best infrastructure available in the Caribbean basin - a reliable telecommunication system, multilingual workers and a lack of online gaming and Internet regulations.

To better understand how the online gambling casinos are doing business in Costa Rica, this article will address the regulations of the casino industry in Costa Rica, and how the on-line gaming industry conducts business in Costa Rica. We will also issue a warning to online gamblers playing at online casinos hosted in Costa Rica.

History: 

Casinos developed in Costa Rica as a draw for the tourist industry during the 1990s.  As of 1999, there were 29 casinos in Costa Rica. Costa Rica originally instituted casino regulations in 1886 and 1922.

Overview: 

Owners usually create a corporation that is set up to manage their casinos. Casinos must be accredited and approved by the Tourist Board of Costa Rica. They must be located in a hotel rated three stars or above, and at least 100 meters (one block) away from places of worship, hospitals, clinics, and schools.  No one under 18 years old is allowed in a casino.

Failure to fulfill these requirements will cause imprisonment of the owner of the casino and/or a cancellation of the casino's license.

Casinos are required to pay municipality operational fees, facility health permits, and any other tax applicable just like other businesses based in Costa Rica. In addition, they pay an extra 10% on the monthly net revenues and for the number of game tables that they host.  They usually pay 50,000 colones (roughly $100 in 2007) per table.

It is a crime in Costa Rica to earn or lose money by placing a bet on the outcome of a game/event/activity/behavior, or by playing a game whose outcome is based on people's luck, and not on their abilities and skills to play the game. Therefore, it is illegal to collect or earn money based on the outcome of bets or games such as baccarat, dice, twenty-one, poker, black jack, roulette, and lotteries,except those organized by the Red Cross and educational organizations such as schools. The national lottery managed by the Costa Rican organization called "Junta de Protección Social" (bingo) is also exempted from this law.

It is legal to play any of the following games: billiards, card games, canasta, draughts (U.S. checkers), dominoes, casino, rummy, darts, 13, Caribbean straight poker, or any game where the person's abilities and skills will determine the outcome of the game.

Casinos host legal games according to the law as well as illegal games and games that are not clearly defined by law. The most commonly played games are rummy, and Caribbean straight poker. Games that are not clearly defined by law and are hosted in casinos are certain types of games using dice as well as pai gow - Chinese style poker. Casinos also host games that are prohibited by law such as roulette and gambling machines. Roulette is prohibited by the following laws: Article 3 of the "Reglamento a la Ley de Juegos," January 24, 1974 decree # 3510-G, published in "el Alcance #15 de la Gaceta #21" on January 31, 1974, and " Reglamento a la Ley #3," on August 31, 1922.  Decree number 87,229, issued on June 13, 1978, prohibits gambling machines. However, an appeal was filed against this decree. This appeal essentially allows casinos to host these machines until the appeal is considered.

Since it is against the law to either collect or pay monies for bets or gambling games in Costa Rica, the casino industry implements a payment system to get around these laws so that casinos can hold you legally liable for what you owe them or to be able to pay you at their facilities. Casinos encourage gamblers to purchase tokens that are used at their casino facilities, or they give you a credit line by signing letters of credits, mortgages, promissory notes (I. O. U. notes), or written agreements so that installments or collections can be performed and that they are still protected by regular business laws, and not gambling. There are no laws that protect or regulate either the gambler or the casino owner from collecting monies generated by gambling.

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