Online Casinos in Venezuela

The Legal Position

Online casino play is licensed in Venezuela, by a regulator that is active and publishing. The Comisión Nacional de Casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles describes itself as "un órgano desconcentrado adscrito al Ministerio de Poder Popular para Relaciones Interiores y Justicia, con autonomía funcional y presupuestaría que actúa como rector de las actividades objeto de la Ley para el Control de casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles" - a decentralised body attached to the interior and justice ministry, acting as the authority over the activities covered by the control statute. Among its functions it lists "Autorizar, expedir, renovar, suspender y revocar las licencias, concesiones, autorizaciones, contratos y demás actos, según sea el caso, necesarios para la operación y funcionamiento de los establecimientos dedicados a las actividades de los Casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles y de sus empresas relacionadas." Its published objectives add the enforcement side: "Expedir y renovar mediante resolución, las licencias previstas en esta Ley e imponer las sanciones de multa, suspensión, revocatoria o cancelación de las licencias mediante resolución motivada."

The online part is not an inference. The Commission publishes a register of operators holding its authorisations for online play, under the headings "CASINOS ONLINE" and "BINGOS ONLINE", each entry carrying a company, a commercial name or website, and an "N° Autorización CNC" in the CNC-OL series for casinos and the CNC-BO series for bingos - the first casino entry on the register at the time of reading is "GNJ GAMING LIFE, C.A." with authorisation "CNC-OL-25-001". Anyone checking a Venezuelan site's claim to an authorisation can look it up there.

The Law

The governing statute is the Ley para el Control de Casinos, Salas de Bingo y Máquinas Traganíqueles. The Asamblea Nacional's own legislative record gives its gazette as Gaceta 36.254 of 23 July 1997, summarises it as a law that "Regulan las actividades, el funcionamiento, el regimen de autorizaciones y sanciones concernientes a los casinos, a las salas de bongo y a las maquinas traganiqueles" - reproduced here exactly as the register prints it, including its own typographical slip - and records its status as "Vigencia Parcial", partially in force. The only repeal noted is of a single article: "El Art. 38 de la presente Ley quedo derogado por la Ley de Impuesto a las Actividades de Juegos de Envite o Azar, G.O. 38670 de fecha 25/04/2007." That later statute is recorded as fully in force and states its own object as "establecer un impuesto a las actividades de explotación, operación u organización, en general, de juegos de envite o azar, tales como: loterías, casinos, salas de bingo, máquinas traganíqueles y espectáculos hípicos" - a tax on gambling activities including casinos and bingo halls, which is a further indication that these are lawful, taxed activities rather than prohibited ones.

Minors

The control statute bars minors from entering casinos or bingo halls, expressly including emancipated minors.

Support

The Commission defines problem gambling on its own page as "un comportamiento que se caracteriza por la incapacidad que tiene una persona de abstenerse y detenerse respecto al juego (Juego de Azar, máquinas tragamonedas, póquer, bingo, entre otros)". It publishes an educational page on problem gambling and a directory of regional Gamblers Anonymous groups, each with its own around-the-clock number. There is no single national problem-gambling helpline, and the freephone number in the Commission's site footer is a confidential complaints line rather than a help line, so no number is printed here as a helpline. Readers in Venezuela looking for support should use the Commission's own directory of groups.