Costa rica

Costa Rica is considered one of the most stable countries in Central America in terms of its economic component. The main areas are: agriculture, industry and services. The latter accounts for more than 76% of the total GDP of the country. The state invests quite significant funds in the education of the population. According to recent studies, the literacy rate of the population is quite high. Note, for more understanding, despite the fact that Costa Rica is considered to be quite stable and country, but in fact 20% of the population live below the poverty line. It should be borne in mind that the high rating assigned to the state based on an analysis of all Central American countries.

The jurisdiction is registered a large number of foreign companies, as Costa Rica provides tax benefits. Among them are Bochs, Intel, Dell and others. Given the fact of tax incentives for foreign companies and the ability to legally conduct any business, including gambling, the jurisdiction attracts gambling companies.

Costa rica: Casino with licenses

The official website of the regulator has no information about the issued gambling licenses. Unfortunately, it is also quite difficult to check the casino license. Most of the operators working previously under this license were licensed in other jurisdictions. Therefore, if you found a casino with a license Costa Rica, we recommend to be skeptical of such an institution.

Costa rica review

Costa Rica is a country with a rich history.

1. The country was for a long time a colony of Spain, and there were no attempts to obtain the status of an independent state.
2. In 1820 a decree was signed according to which Costa Rica received the status of an autonomous province.
3. From 1810 to 1821 Spain was at war with Mexico.
4. After being defeated, the Guatemalan authorities declared the independence of all Latin America and the Federal Republic of Central America was formed.
5. So Costa Rica gained independence in 1821, but as a republic.
6. And in 1838 the Federal Republic ceased to function, the country became fully independent.

The main incomes of the jurisdiction are agriculture (growing coffee, bananas and other crops), industry and services (tourism). Note that the country supplies just under 1% of the world's coffee. Although the figure is insignificant, but translated into financial terms, the volume reaches several hundred million dollars. 

Costa Rica is the only country that meets the UN environmental standards on all counts. This has been achieved thanks to government policies aimed at preserving nature. For example, there is a tax on water pollution and logging. In the near future, the country plans to completely switch to renewable energy sources, not long ago a test was conducted: for four months the country consumed electricity from renewable resources. 

The state provides tax benefits to foreign companies that want to register and do business in the country. A fairly simple process of registration of the company, tax breaks and significant freedom of action in some industries have attracted quite a few companies to Costa Rica, including the gambling industry. 

The jurisdiction has a very peculiar legislation regarding gambling and a rather specific approach to the regulation and control of gambling. If we consider Costa Rica as a gambling licensee based on global licensing principles (reliability, transparency, player protection, etc.), then we can safely state:

Costa Rica is one of the worst jurisdictions for online casino licensing.

There are three facts for this statement:

1.  Player protection. If you play at a casino with a Costa Rican license in the event of a dispute, you can only rely on yourself and the honesty of the operator. Help from the organization that issued the license you will not get. 
2. Reliability. Online casino is not obliged to report on the originality of the game software used in the casino and the use of players' funds. 
3. Licensee does not how does not track and regulate the activities of online casinos. 

Gambling history in this country

The country's gambling entertainment industry boomed when the U.S. gambling prohibition law was passed. It was at this point that companies began to move their business to Costa Rica.

And in a short period of time, this jurisdiction gained fame as a "gambling paradise". The government of the country did not hesitate to issue "gambling licenses" and was not particularly interested in who it issued them to.

But everything changed dramatically after 2000, when the U.S. government began to detain the organizers of gambling on the territory of Costa Rica. While this was in fact a violation of democratic rights. But since Costa Rica was entertainingly dependent on the United States, everything went within the law. And most companies get a license from this jurisdiction to organize online casinos for American players. In doing so, various loopholes in the US legislation are additionally utilized. According to experts, as soon as gambling on the Internet will be allowed throughout the United States, Costa Rica will lose its appeal. Some experts predict changes as early as 2020.

Licensing authority

Licensing in Costa Rica, specifically the regulatory organizations as the industry is accustomed to them, is a mess. To be more precise, there are no such organizations. This has relative advantages for companies operating in the jurisdiction and obvious disadvantages for players.

The main advantage of obtaining a license for companies is complete freedom of action. They are not controlled or regulated in any way. In the law on gambling Costa Rica (yes, we were also surprised by its presence), it is explicitly stated: 

If the organization (online casino) operates outside the state, it is self-regulated. 

Also, when issuing a document authorizing the activity is not thorough enough inspection of companies and founders of the organization. That naturally initially attracts companies with a dubious reputation. 

Obvious disadvantages for players is the inability to get support in the event of a dispute in the online casino. That is, if the institution refuses to pay out winnings for any reason, the player will have to resolve the issue with the institution itself. Or if the casino is licensed additionally in another jurisdiction to seek help from this licensee.  

But gambling licensing is carried out, but not in the direct sense of this thesis. Instead of the usual gambling license, the local municipality issues a document for the right of data processing (Data Processing). In fact, Data Processing plays the role of a gambling license, and the local municipality plays the role of a licensee. The application is considered from two to five weeks. 

By the way, there are a few negative aspects of obtaining a license in Costa Rica:

• It will be difficult to open an account in a local bank. More precisely with the processing of gaming transactions by these banks, as the banking industry is seriously controlled by the United States.
• It is impossible to accept players from Costa Rica
• Players do not trust casinos with a gambling license of Costa Rica 

Partially the activity of companies that opened online casinos are regulated (controlled the flow of funds into the budget) by the Ministry of Finance of the country. 

It should be noted that the country a couple of times there were attempts to go to a more regulated level of gambling. But all of them failed. The only thing that has been done is to increase taxes, and not specifically for gambling. This measure allowed to significantly increase the budget of the country. Actually after this "innovation" the development of the industry faded away.

Requirements for licensees

The list of requirements for licensees is fairly simple:

• Must register the company in the country.
• The company must include a local resident
• Register with the tax authorities
• It is forbidden to accept players from Costa Rica
• Servers must be located outside the territory of the state
• Pay the application fee
• The authorized capital of the company must be at least 100,000 USD

After about a month you will receive Data Processing and will be able to conduct gambling business. The state will not interfere with your activities as long as tax deductions are paid on time.

Conclusion

Jurisdiction of Costa Rica provides a low level of service in the online casino licensing industry. There are no specialized organizations regulating gambling, there is no work to protect players. Questionable reputation of the jurisdiction only causes distrust.

That is why the Casinoz team believes that the Costa Rica gambling license may be of interest only to companies that initially plan to conduct gambling business in an unfair way.