Costa Rica as a licensing authority

Hey anyone at Casino.Guru. - you need to stop listing Costa Rica as a licensing authority. IT IS A DATA PROCESSING LICENCE - ONLINE GAMBLING IS ILLEGAL IN COSTA RICA.

Mark all of these casinos as "operating without a licence".

Ref: https://slotegrator.pro/analytical_articles/obtaining-a-gaming-license-in-costa-rica-in-2022/

Hello,

I moved your post here to keep the forum clean.

I think that you mix two things so I will try to explain:

Online Gambling may not be legal in Costa Rica (however I do not think this is correct) but it does not mean that this local company can't provide the licensing authority for online casinos. Casinos licensed under this regulator can operate elsewhere and accept players from other countries, but not players from Costa Rica.

Anyway, you should read the article more closely:

"As for online gambling, the story is somewhat different. According to the current interpretation of the law, online gambling takes place where the transactions between player and operators are processed rather than where the operator is based. This means that, while it isn’t possible to obtain a gambling license, the government tolerates the operation of online gambling businesses based in the country as long as their transactions aren’t processed by local banks and they don’t offer their services to Costa Rican residents."

It's not illegal to operate an online casino and accept players from Costa Rica, as far as I understand.

Anyway, thank you for your caution.

Okay let me explain. Firstly, you obviously DIDN'T READ THE ARTICLE THOROUGHLY.

Quote 1.: As there is no online gambling license, most Costa Rican operators acquire a data processing license and operate under the guise of call centres.

Operators have to register with the Costa Rican Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Economy, and apply for a data processing license in the municipality where their business is established (a physical presence is required). As these licenses are issued by municipalities — regional governments — rather than a central gambling authority, the requisites to obtain one may vary depending on the location.

They DON'T HAVE A LICENCE. They can OPERATE A CALL CENTRE AND PROCESS SENSITIVE INFORMATION. They PRETEND to be a CALL CENTRE.

Quote 2.: Furthermore, as the country lacks both a regulatory framework and a supervising authority, operators aren’t subject to the marketing and responsible gambling restrictions in place most elsewhere. It’s important to note that anti-money laundering regulations, on the other hand, are enforced.

THE GOVERNMENT DOES NOT REGULATE ONLINE CASINOS. IF MONEY IS STOLEN THEY DON'T GET IN TROUBLE. THEY ARE A CALL CENTRE. THEY ARE NOT A CASINO.

For absolute Christ's sake you need to stop falsely listing Costa Rica as a licencing authority. If anything were to go wrong there is no government department with jurisdiction unless the casino commits identity theft because they have a licence to store and process personal and sensitive information by the relevant Costa Rican government municipality.

Do you get this.

They have a licence to process and store personal and sensitive information like card numbers, bank account details, money (process), identification and indentifying information.

Costa Rica does not regulate Online Gambling as it is illegal. In person betting (venues) is legal however - but this is regulated by a seperate authority and is NOT a data processing licence.

I not saying I'm correct but I got a different opinion 🙂, so I forwarded your messages + the article to our Reputation and Data Team. Anyway, it's not my place to debate on this topic I think.

If there is any issue, these guys will find it and adjust any information if necessary.

Thank you for your concern, I or anybody from the concerned teams will get back to you with the response.

Hello mrlazzaj.

We are currently working on improvements which will allow us to display much more info about the license and how to submit a complaint in case of trouble.

Basically, you are correct and we will make the proper change once the new system is online (it shouldn't take so long it is already in development)

Much appreciated.

I'm not saying to blacklist casinos just mark ones who operate solely within Costa Rica as operating without a licence.

Technically they aren't legal in all jurisdictions as most of them will require a reputable gambling specific licence.

No rush but thank you for making the changes.