Popular with Caribbean holidaymakers for its idyllic beaches, all-inclusive resorts and numerous golf courses, the Dominican Republic is also one of the region’s top gambling destinations.
The nation of 10 million people, which shares the island of Hispaniola with its poorer neighbour Haiti, has 58 land-based casinos and seven gaming halls that operate more than 6,300 slot machines.
As is the case in other leading Caribbean markets such as Puerto Rico, Antigua, the Bahamas and Aruba, most of the Dominican Republic’s casinos are attached to upscale resort hotels and they rely heavily on tourists and overseas junkets for clientele.
The most visited country in the Caribbean, the Dominican Republic receives about four million tourists every year and the $5bn tourism industry is the mainstay of the local economy.
Tourism activity rose by more than 10 per cent in the first two months of this year, spurred by higher hotel occupancy rates and bigger spending by visitors, the Central Bank governor said recently.
Buoyed by years of brisk economic growth and falling poverty rates, locals are also spending more time at the nation’s casinos and now account for about a fifth of clients at some gaming venues.
But in contrast to other gaming markets in Latin America, casino gambling in the Spanish-speaking nation is seen as an added attraction for holidaymakers from overseas with betting shops and lotteries the focus for local gamblers. Average monthly spending on slots and betting shops was 2.7bn Dominican pesos (US$63m) last year, according to Finance Ministry data.
Read the full article in the May issue of InterGaming
