Venezuelan Casino and Card Room Gaming

The casino industry in Venezuela dates back to the mid-1990s, when the government allowed casinos to operate in large hotels to encourage tourism. The government reversed its stance on gambling once Hugo Chavez came into power, and began to clamp down on casinos and slot halls.

The Comisión Nacional de Casinos, Salas de Bingo, y Máquinas Traganíqueles (National Commission of Casinos, Bingo Halls and Slot Machines), a division of the Ministerio del Poder Popular para el Turismo (Ministry of Tourism), is in charge of regulation and enforcement.

In September 2008, the Tourism Ministry ordered the suspension of renewal and issuing of casino and bingo licenses in the country to stop the proliferation of illegal slot machines. This resulted in the closure of almost 20 gaming properties in 2009 once their licenses expired and the operations became technically illegal.

In 2010, the taxation scheme for casinos and slots was changed, whereby instead of gross revenue, each slot machine was taxed at USD 700 a month and table games at USD 2,100 a month. That same year, the government decreed that gaming facilities were not only relegated to tourist areas, but that some tourist areas such as national parks were also off-limits to the industry.