Obtaining a gambling license in Costa Rica — requirements and documents, licensing gambling activities | Law&Trust International

A gambling license in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a unique jurisdiction located in Central America, and a casino license is not provided here.
Despite the fact that more than 400 online casinos and bookmakers are currently registered in Costa Rica, the country has not developed legislation regulating the conduct of online gambling business on the Internet. That is, any company (including offshore) of Costa Rica can carry out this activity without obtaining any additional permits. Only citizens of Costa Rica and other countries where online casinos are banned or require a local license cannot participate in such gambling projects. In order to exclude possible claims of the regulatory authorities of these countries, it will be enough just to set the blocking by IP addresses.

Benefits of this jurisdiction

  • The absence of legislation regarding the activities of gambling companies in Costa Rica means that no one will control, regulate, or test your business.
  • Costa Rica has a stable economy.
  • The country is not considered an offshore jurisdiction, which allows working with counterparties from the USA and the EU.
  • The long history of gambling in the jurisdiction.
  • Quick and inexpensive start of the project.
  • Absence of direct prohibitions on gambling.
  • No server location requirements.
  • No annual license fees.
  • No need to test gaming software.
  • There is no tax on income earned outside of Costa Rica.

Casino launch features

  • To operate the servers in Costa Rica, you should obtain a license for “Data processing”.
  • Registration of a local company is required.
  • The company must have a registration agent.
  • There are no requirements for the residence of directors and shareholders.
  • At least two shareholders are required.
  • The registration of the company and the launch of the project take about 3 weeks.

Required documents

  • Passports for each shareholder of the company or a set of statutory documents.
  • Power of attorney for company registration.
  • Additional information may be requested by the government when registering a company.

    It should be noted that the absence of legal regulation means that opening an account for a company registered in Costa Rica will be difficult. Lotteries, poker rooms, slot machines, bets on the company's website should have a location - a server. In this case, the company still needs to obtain permission to host servers in Costa Rica.

The Law and Trust International team will carry out the company registration on your behalf, receive the necessary permissions to start the project in one of the most open jurisdictions for gambling, and tell you about all the pitfalls of the launch.
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