Panama approves Lotería Fiscal Digital rules for electronic invoices

Overview

Panama's Junta de Control de Juegos (JCJ), the gambling regulator under the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), approved Resolution No. 41 of 22 September 2026 establishing the procedure for the "Sistema de la Tómbola Fiscal Digital basado en facturas electrónicas", marketed as Lotería Fiscal Digital. The resolution was published in Official Gazette Digital No. 30642-B on 26 October 2026. MEF announced the approval on 27 October, saying the scheme is meant to encourage use of electronic invoicing.

Under the resolution's own closing clause, it takes effect after approval by executive decree and publication in the Official Gazette. The gazette publication is confirmed; AskSpinner has not located a separate executive decree text in the same gazette edition.

How participation works

Natural persons may take part by registering electronic invoices issued in their name through Panama's electronic invoicing system, either the free government invoicer or a Qualified Authorised Provider (PAC). Registration is done on the Panamá Conecta citizen portal: after signing in, the user opens the Lotería Fiscal service and scans the invoice QR code. Each validated invoice generates one digital ticket.

Invoices must be at most two months old at the date of the draw and must be registered at least 72 hours before a national draw, or before the first regional or provincial draw in the relevant series. Required invoice fields include the unique electronic invoicing code, issuer and recipient details, amounts, applicable taxes and the QR code.

JCJ staff, Dirección General de Ingresos (DGI) staff, the National Authority for Government Innovation (AIG) and external consultants working on the project may not participate.

Draws and prizes

DGI will set how many draws take place each year and on which dates. Draws may be national, regional (four regions covering the ten provinces) or provincial. Selection is random, in a live studio broadcast, before a notary and officials from JCJ, DGI and AIG.

Prize tiers are B/.500, B/.2,500 and B/.5,000. A national draw awards 200 prizes totalling B/.440,000; each regional draw awards 50 prizes totalling B/.110,000; each provincial draw awards 20 prizes totalling B/.44,000. A person may win only once in the same draw. Winners are paid by bank transfer (ACH) within three months of the official results publication, and prizes are exempt from income tax under Article 708(g) of the Fiscal Code.

Related coverage: Rwanda launches InteGo! national lottery and Equatorial Guinea clears talks with B2Tech on a national lottery.

Image rights: if you hold rights to an image used here and want it credited differently or removed, contact support@askspinner.com.