Costa Rica Jurisdiction

Companies offering gambling services out of Costa Rica do not exactly inspire confidence in customers. After all, this jurisdiction's main requirement for licensing is that companies pay for a regular business license. Then they can do what they like as long as they do not accept Costa Rican customers. In fact, Costa Rica has no real laws that apply to online gaming and, along with the negligible tax rate, it has inevitably become a haven for numerous rogue online casinos.

Costa Rica Overview

The country of Costa Rica is located in Central America, and it borders Nicaragua to the north and Panama to the south. The government of Costa Rica is stable and the country has enjoyed democracy since 1949.

But even with a stable government, Costa Rica’s online gaming regulation has remained anything but stable. In fact, the country’s central government has failed to establish any sort of legitimate authority over the gambling companies residing there. The latest attempt at establishing authority has finally called for Internet gaming companies to pay taxes on their revenue.

Requirements for Costa Rican licensing

One reason why over 300 online gaming companies have come to reside in Costa Rica is because of the lack of requirements for licensing. Basically a company just needs to pay $5000 for a permanent business license, $5000 for license renewal at the end of the year, and $500 for legal costs.

Other than the financial aspects there are no further requirements that must be met - such as having a longstanding reputation within the gambling industry, audited payouts and software, or any kind of fitness of character test for owners. These companies don’t even have to pay taxes since their revenue is from a foreign source.

Over the years we have seen several less than honest online casinos claiming to be licensed by the "Costa Rican Gaming Commission" or other such official sounding organisation. Do not be fooled by claims such as these - there is simply no such thing!

Complaints and Dispute Resolution (non existent!)

To date, Costa Rica does not have a central governing body that handles complaints from customers. Instead, Costa Rican online gaming companies govern themselves, which leaves players at the mercy of individual operators when it comes to disputes.

We advise players to research long and hard before depositing a cent at an online casino operating out of Costa Rica. There are a couple of decent ones around, such as iNetBet and the group including Slots Plus and Las Vegas USA, but as for the rest - forget about it.

Online casinos operating in Costa Rica