Paraguay Senate Weighs Bill to Replace Conajzar With New Gambling Regulator Dinajzar and Toughen Illegal Gambling Penalties

Paraguay's Senate is studying a government bill, sent by President Santiago Peña's administration on 12 October 2026, that would abolish the National Gambling Commission (Comisión Nacional de Juegos de Azar, Conajzar) and replace it with an autonomous regulator, the National Directorate of Gambling (Dirección Nacional de Juegos de Azar, Dinajzar), armed with criminal penalties against illegal operators. The reform would undo a central piece of the 2025 overhaul that put Conajzar under the national tax agency.

Nothing has been enacted yet. The 72-article bill, signed by Peña and Economy and Finance Minister Teodora Recalde according to Yogonet, went to committee on 14 October. A joint committee hearing on 26 October produced a working group rather than a vote, and no floor date has been set.

What the bill would create

Dinajzar would be a public-law body with its own assets, budget autonomy and functional independence, run by a national director whom the president appoints and dismisses by decree. It would answer to the executive through the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) instead of the National Directorate of Tax Revenue (Dirección Nacional de Ingresos Tributarios, DNIT).

Games authorized by departmental and municipal governments would stay with those authorities. Existing concessions and permits would remain valid until they expire.

The case against the current setup

Lawmakers and officials say Conajzar cannot police the market with the people it has. Senator Luis Pettengill, who chairs the Senate Legislation, Codification, Justice and Labor Committee, told the hearing that the commission has 12 officials for the entire country. He also warned of a serious lack of control over gambling by minors in cities nationwide.

Conajzar president Carlos Liseras told ABC Color that the merger with DNIT ordered by the 2025 law was never completed. After a complaint, he said, inspection teams took 15 to 20 days to be formed and authorized, against a target of two. He warned that clandestine gambling "grows enormously" while the reform waits.

Javier Balbuena, a lawyer and former Conajzar head, told NEXT.io he considers passage "highly likely" and said the DNIT arrangement had "weakened administrative processes."

Liseras puts monthly gambling revenue at about PYG 21 billion (roughly US$3.6 million), up from about PYG 12 billion until 2023, and says a dedicated regulator could double it. The canon funds Paraguay's charity and social welfare directorate (Diben), with shares also going to health and sports.

Licensing, fees and advertising

ABC Color reported that the bill sets 26 online gambling licenses to be tendered by the regulator. Provisional permits issued under the 2025 law run until January 2028, and their holders could bid for full licenses. Liseras said several permit holders pay the minimum fee without running any games.

The maximum concession term is unsettled in public reporting. Yogonet's reading of the bill gives up to 10 years with no extension, while Focus Gaming News quotes a cap of 20 years, set tender by tender according to investment. NEXT.io reports that a five-to-10-year range has divided committee members.

Influencers, mass media and suppliers who promote gambling would have to enroll in a national register run by Dinajzar. Anyone promoting without authorization could be treated as an illegal operator. NEXT.io also reports deposit limits, a central self-exclusion register and limits on when promotions can run; Gamingo could not confirm those details in the bill summaries published by Paraguayan outlets.

What changed since the 2025 law

When Gamingo reported in May 2025 that Paraguay had ended its gambling monopoly, the plan was to strengthen Conajzar by folding it into DNIT. That law, Law 7438/2025, was promulgated on 3 January 2025, as covered in our report on Paraguay's law transferring Conajzar oversight to DNIT. Decree 3846/2025 of 7 May 2025 then made Conajzar a deconcentrated body of DNIT. Our May 2025 story gave the law's number as 7348; the correct number is 7438.

The government's own direction has shifted within weeks. DNIT announced on 15 October that its Resolution 2408 had approved the structure of a General Directorate of Gambling, with control, technical, concessions and legal departments, under the 2025 law. The bill sent to the Senate days earlier would move that work out of DNIT altogether.

The push to rein in Conajzar is older still. Deputies first sought to curb Conajzar's licensing authority in 2023 after a disputed national sports betting tender, and the monopoly bill cleared the lower house in November 2024 with backing from President Peña.

What happens next

Senators want a consensus text in about 15 days, which would put a revised draft in mid-November. MEF representatives asked the committees to weigh an efficient institutional model, not only revenue, and Senator Ignacio Iramain asked that gambling addiction be treated as a public health issue. The bill then needs approval in both chambers and presidential promulgation.

Status reviewed on 30 October 2026. Bill provisions are from Paraguayan press readings of the executive's text, which Gamingo could not access directly; the 2025 law, its decree and the DNIT restructuring are confirmed by official records. More regulation news and Latam & Caribbean coverage.