GAT Expo Santo Domingo puts Law 86-26 at the center of its agenda
Gambling Law 86-26 has emerged as the centerpiece of the agenda for GAT Expo Santo Domingo 2026, set to take place at the Renaissance Santo Domingo Jaragua Hotel & Casino on Wednesday, November 18. This is the event's sixth Dominican edition, arriving at a crucial moment when the local sector needs to understand the changes brought about by the legislation that created the new Dirección General de Juegos de Azar.
The event is structured into two partially overlapping blocks. The Salón Anacaona showroom opens at 11:00 AM and closes at 7:00 PM, featuring Raza as Diamond Sponsor. Among the confirmed exhibitors are Grupo Germán, Star Sport, BYADS, Mi Visa, G&G Studio Legal, Bingo Maya, Átomo Gaming, Orobet, Cecomsa, Prometeo, DS Virtual Gaming, Demp Innovations, Gamanza, and BetConstruct, alongside a dozen other companies currently finalizing their contracts with the organizers. The showcase covers four key segments: online betting, sports betting shops, lottery shops, and land-based casinos.
José Aníbal Aguirre, CEO of GAT Events, summarized the value proposition in terms of productive time, pointing to "eight continuous hours of networking" under one roof where attendees can acquire portfolios, close deals, forge partnerships, and gain a thorough understanding of the new regulatory landscape across each vertical, along with its benefits, implications, and challenges.
The GAT Talks will take place between 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM, featuring the most compelling segment of the program. A panel will bring together the Asociación Dominicana de Bancas Deportivas, the Federación Nacional de Bancas de Loterías, the Asociación Nacional de Bancas Deportivas, and the Asociación Dominicana de Casinos de Juegos at the same table, moderated by Yamile Gutiérrez from G&G Studio Legal, allowing each organization to outline what it considers a priority at this stage.
This lineup reveals something worth noting about the Dominican market. There are four entities representing three segments, as sports betting shops are represented by two different associations sitting at the same table. The trade fragmentation within the retail segment is no small detail in a country where the regularization of betting shops remains an open issue: a regulator negotiating terms with two separate interlocutors for the same vertical faces a representation challenge before even beginning to discuss the substance.
The rest of the conference block is divided between product and compliance. Gamanza will host a panel on gamification applied to Latin American platforms, focusing on engagement and retention strategies that go beyond bonuses—an approach that makes increasing sense in a region where Chile is proposing to ban bonuses altogether and an Argentine federal bill aims to prohibit welcome bonuses. Gaming Laboratories International, meanwhile, will contribute its expertise in technical standards, certification, and adaptation to regulatory compliance, which is precisely the area a market undergoing regularization needs to resolve before anything else.
The gathering also concludes the Circuito GAT 2026, which throughout the year made stops in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic itself. The choice of Santo Domingo as the final stop coincides with the effective rollout of the new Dominican framework, meaning the event serves as the first opportunity for suppliers and investors to gauge firsthand the local appetite for this new phase.
Law 86-26 created the Dirección General de Juegos de Azar as the body responsible for licensing and supervising casinos, lottery shops, sports betting shops, and slot machines in the Dominican Republic, operating under the Ministry of Finance, and placed under the transitional leadership of Teófilo Tabar Manzur as of October 5, 2026. The agency recently delivered a provisional and conditional database of establishments enrolled in the Regularization Plan to the tax authority, without disclosing the total number of venues involved. GAT Events organizes gaming industry trade shows across several Latin American and Caribbean markets in an annual circuit format.
Tags: Dominican Republic, GAT Expo, Law 86-26, Events, Business, Events, Trade Shows & Production, GAT Expo Santo Domingo 2026