TLDR
- The Dominican Republic named seven authorised online gambling operators and said about 81 others lack state permission.
- New Dominican online licences must wait until a newly created gambling council approves fees and rules.
- The CFTC gave US exchanges 30 days to remove geographic restrictions or explain why they cannot.
- The CFTC’s position challenges Sixth Circuit reasoning in a Kalshi case but does not reverse the court’s rulings.
- Kalshi’s response to a New Jersey Supreme Court petition is due December 7.
Regulators in two countries took steps this month to set clearer limits on who can offer betting and prediction markets. The Dominican Republic named its authorised online gambling operators, while the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) told exchanges to stop blocking traders by location.
The Dominican Republic’s Directorate General of Gambling (DGJA) said seven online operators are authorised to work in the country. It also warned that about 81 operators do not have state permission.
Dominican Republic Lists Approved Operators
The authorised companies are Game Technology International, Betcris Banca de Apuesta, Juancito Sport, Gogo Sport, Orobet, Breeze Management and Drbets. Their platforms are Superbets, Betcris, Juancito Sport, Gogo Banca, Orobet, vip987.do and Appuesta.
The list covers businesses already recognised as authorised. The regulator did not award seven new licences under the new law.
The DGJA, headed by Teófilo “Quico” Tabar, issued the statement as the country puts Law 86-26 into effect. That law reorganises how gambling is regulated and supervised.
President Luis Abinader named Tabar as transitional director under Decree 684-26, dated October 2. The DGJA said it is reviewing gambling activity and working with other state bodies to look at possible violations.
The regulator asked the public and the media to share information about unauthorised operators. It said it will decide on the right legal or administrative response.
New online licences must wait. The Council of Gambling has not yet held its first meeting, so a resolution setting licence fees, requirements and operating conditions is still awaiting approval. No date was given.
The DGJA is also bringing lottery outlets and sports betting shops into the formal regulatory and tax systems. On October 19, it gave the national tax authority, DGII, a provisional database of businesses in its regularisation programme.
A November 2 notice told businesses left out of the programme they have until November 15 to file a voluntary declaration. The regulator warned that filing does not automatically make a business legal or allow it to operate.
CFTC Targets Location-Based Blocking
In the US, the CFTC’s November 5 demand gives designated contract markets 30 days to remove geographic restrictions that break its impartial-access rules. Exchanges that cannot comply must explain why.
The practice in question is geofencing, which uses a trader’s location to decide which markets they can reach. The CFTC said eligible US traders generally should not be excluded because of where they live. Exchanges must also make sure intermediaries that access their markets comply.
The agency said excluding traders can split liquidity and weaken price discovery. It pointed to election markets, where local traders may add useful information. The CFTC said it will review each case’s facts before taking any action.
The new position challenges reasoning from a September 25 Sixth Circuit opinion involving prediction market Kalshi. The court found Kalshi had not shown its sports-event contracts meet the legal definition of a swap, which is the basis of its claim to sole federal oversight.
The judges also ruled that, even if the contracts were swaps, federal law did not override Ohio and Tennessee gambling laws. They said impartial access means access to the markets an exchange offers, not every contract in every state.
The CFTC’s new reading does not by itself reverse those court rulings. The document behind it is still subject to technical corrections before publication.
Crypto wallet Phantom’s access to Kalshi markets includes state exclusions. Kalshi’s response to a New Jersey Supreme Court petition is due December 7.
