Puerto Rico Reports High Sports Betting Profits for 2023
Author:
Megan Butler
Despite some limitations on sports betting on the island of Puerto Rico, its betting authority has reported high earnings in the last year. In fact, Puerto Rico has managed to collect at least $400,000 USD from sports betting in the span of just under one year, from approximately July 2022 to May 2023. These stats were reported by the Puerto Rico Gaming Commission to local news outlet, El Vocero last month.
So far, Puerto Ricans have only been able to place sports bets in casinos, but soon online betting will become a reality. ?ben front/Unsplash
Online vs. Physical Betting in Puerto Rico
One of the most interesting components of Puerto Rico’s success with sports betting is the fact that licensing is limited in the country, at least for now. Puerto Rico’s gambling rules stipulate that only physical locations are allowed to offer sports betting legally.
That means, in order to participate in sports betting, players must go to a physical place such as a casino to place their bets. So far, online sports betting is not a legal option for those on the island. This may have something to do with its status as a US territory; throughout the States, some state governments have allowed sports betting but the overwhelming majority have not legalized it.
In Puerto Rico, it is legal to participate in sports betting but only at licensed facilities. These licenses have not been granted to many so far, but despite this, the country managed to collect an estimated $416,000 USD in a period of less than a year.
According to those in the industry, that shows marked growth in comparison to previous periods. Puerto Rico, like many places, is recovering since the downturn of the pandemic — which of course caused public betting spaces like casinos to shutter their doors temporarily. It looks like things are finally on an upswing again.
The question now is, could Puerto Rico’s sports betting industry grow even more? Given that it has not yet tapped into online sports betting — an increasingly popular and profitable vertical — it seems potential is great for the country to rack in even more profits from this particular sector.
The executive director of the Puerto Rico Gaming Commission, Jaime Rivera Emanuelli, spoke to this situation recently. He said that the wager amounts have definitely increased in sports betting. Over the same nearly year-long period, about $145 million USD was bet, which resulted in the tidy sum collected in tax by the government.
This is the result of a 7% tax. In Puerto Rico, the tax is not applied to the bet amount but rather to the amount that a bookmaker profits — in this case, the physical casinos that offer betting on site. Rivera Emanuelli explained that this amount will be different for online sports betting, which seems imminent for the island.
Rather than receiving a 7% tax on profits, online sports betting platforms will be faced with a 12% tax. This will of course increase what Puerto Rico can collect overall. The Commission also has its own Sports Betting Bureau looking at the data and projecting industry growth.
To this end, the Bureau’s director, Eric de la Cruz stated that there was significant growth between March and May 2023. Though more months would need to be tracked to see if this trend continues, it might be an indicator that sports betting is on the rise. So far, baseball and hockey were sports that received the most bets as of late.
Rivera Emanuelli confirmed that online betting will happen soon. A plan has already been approved by the government, and it was actually already supposed to be in working order by now. However, it seems it will now be started at some time in June 2023.
15 licenses have already been approved for future online betting providers. Though some physical locations will remain and some players may continue to choose these as their preference, it is likely that online betting will be the most popular choice in line with trends in the United States. It is also projected that online betting will increase the accessibility and popularity of sports betting in Puerto Rico in general, leading to more growth.
