Puerto Rico’s gambling industry rakes in millions in revenues

After Puerto Rico hosted the 8th Ibero-American Gaming Summit, the interim director of the Puerto Rico Gaming Commission, Juan Santaella, informed that the gaming industry in the country collected over $186 million in 2023.

Of these collections, according to data provided by Santaella, the casino sector collected $177.3 million; the sports betting sector collected $505 thousand and the horse racing sector collected $8.7 million, of which some $77 million is destined to the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), a part goes to the general fund and another part to the development and investment for the promotion of Puerto Rico in the tourism sector.

“We invest to continue bringing tourists because in Puerto Rico there is a local boom in casinos because of the gaming industry and because they have also become an entertainment center, where they not only have machines, but also artistic events and other types of things that the general managers have been able to do. It is no less important that it is an industry that benefits from tourists who come to spend their money and enjoy Puerto Rico,” said Santaella.

Likewise, past interim director of the Gaming Commission Jaime Rivera Emmanuelli mentioned that the horse racing industry also contributes to the general fund through what comes out of the “cascades” from horse racing, as well as from the sports betting operators depending on whether the contribution was made online or physical and that there is also an economic contribution from the regulation.

“Regulation is covered by the operation of the industry itself. The commission takes out the necessary resources to be able to control and also the government that maybe this is not measured monetarily, but the gaming activity is an activity that the government has a great interest in regulating because it could have a consequence in the mental health of the population and the fact that the government does not regulate it, then illegal gaming grows and illegal gaming is invited to take possession of this activity. The contribution of the Gaming Commission and the lottery businesses is extremely essential, not only economically, but also to help regulate and maintain the gambling activity as an additional entertainment activity that is safe for the gambler,” said Rivera Emmanuelli.

Online betting

On the other hand, Santaella informed that in Puerto Rico there are six online sports betting operators, but only two currently receive bets.

When asked about where most of the bets are placed, the interim director of the Gaming Commission indicated that in the casinos Casino Metro and Casino del Mar, the proportion is the same as in the United States, where 20% is in person, versus 80% online.

“The gambler likes to play close to the game from the comfort of his home and the same thing that is seen in the United States with those who already have approved online gambling is seen to be more deeply rooted,” commented Santaella.

Seat of honor in the gaming industry

Rivera Emmanuelli informed that Puerto Rico was the second jurisdiction to allow casinos in 1948 and in the area of horse racing it has been regulated since 1900.

“Puerto Rico has the particularity of having two very mature verticals with more than 75 years in casinos and horse racing,” said the attorney.

Similarly, he reported that when the sports betting law was approved in 2019, it was not until early 2022 when they began to be observed. According to Rivera Emmanuelli, at the moment in the United States there are more than 30 jurisdictions that have the modalities of face-to-face and online sports betting and Puerto Rico is on that list.

“I believe that Puerto Rico, in many of the verticals, is a jurisdiction with a lot of experience and in terms of the new verticals, such as sports betting, fantasy games and others, we are at a moment that can be compared with most of the jurisdictions in the United States, with the exception of Nevada. I believe that Puerto Rico can be said to be on par in comparison with the jurisdictions of the different states. In some we will be ahead and in others we will be a little behind,” said Rivera Emmanuelli.

Puerto Rico as an attraction

For Rivera Emmanuelli, Puerto Rico being part of Latin America and being a territory of the United States is an attractive jurisdiction for Latin American companies that have a track record and are interested in exploring the U.S. market. He explained that to operate in Puerto Rico, the state and federal government have regulations.

“I say this because Puerto Rico has the particularity that a company coming from Ibero-America that manages to enter Puerto Rico and operate in Puerto Rico, can later expand its operation and the process of entering other markets within the United States becomes easier,” he said.

“In the same way, those U.S. companies that want to test their products in a largely Hispanic market, Puerto Rico is ideally the place to do it because Puerto Rico’s regulatory and legal framework is quite similar to that of the different states. In other words, they would be operating in a place where they already know more or less and have an idea of the rules of the game, but where they could see how their products are doing in a mostly Hispanic market,” explained Rivera Emmnuelli.