Gambling in Panama
 

Anyone have a good rundown on the casino scene in Panama City? I see that a few casinos in town advertise sportsbooks but I'm wondering if simulcast wagering on international horse races is available. For sports betting are the spreads and juice typical to what I would find at bricks and mortar casinos in the US?

Almost every casino seems to offer a live poker room which is a plus for me.

Video poker available? Decent paytables?

Have read that conversion of casino chips back to cash results in a 5.5% "tax" paid to the house or the government. That sure seems punitive.

At US casinos, sports and race wagers are placed and paid off in cash as opposed to chips. Is that not true in PTY?

Appreciate any intel on the casino scene in Panama.

Not really on point, but I’ve gambled in Costa Rica, Ecuador and I’m sure at least one other latin American country and always found the odds pretty bad compared to Las Vegas.

That 5.5% tax on conversion of chips back to cash sure doesn't excite me. But I love Panama City in general. So, if it could also become a fun gambling destination...

I've spent a fair amount of time in Latin America and, surprisingly, always resisted the temptation to set foot in a casino. (I did visit Monterrico, the horse racing track in Lima, which was a fun cultural immersion experience though not particularly profitable!)

If Panamanian casinos offered horse racing betting in their sportsbooks, that would be a huge plus for me.

From the non-FT research I've done, Panamanian casino live poker rooms make extensive use of shills. Shills who are actually horrible players and make for beatable, super soft games. Though some have reported said shills and the casinos who employ them strongly discourage calling it a night and leaving the table when you're up. Some of the reports I've read make poker in PTY sound like the wild wild west.

Some of the casinos do offer both sports and horse betting. Not sure where the horse races are from (in country or not). I quit table games there because of the 5.5% tax on chip redemption. The original idea was to tax winnings, but because the tax is on redemptions it has a much larger impact. Consider - walk to the table, buy $100 in chips, decide you don't want to play, take that $100 in chips to the cage and only get $94.50 back. That's a pretty big house advantage before getting even one card dealt. It is the same with sports/horse betting, but there you only cash the winning tickets. Either way, hope you enjoy Panama, I always did (lived there in 2009-10).