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EN CHILE, EL GRUPO DE INTERÉS PARA EL SECTOR de las SWP (habilidad con premios), FIDEN, ha reaccionado con fuerza ante las reclamaciones presentadas por la indus- tria de los casinos con relación a su descenso en los ingresos a causa de la prohibición de fumar y el auge de los denomina- dos «casinos populares». Según las estimaciones, podría haber hasta 150 000 máquinas tragaperras instaladas en salas recreativas, y otras 50 000 en pequeñas tiendas y negocios chilenos.
SEGÚN INFORMES DE LA SUPERINTENDENCIA DE Casinos de Juego (SCJ) de Chile, los ingresos brutos genera- dos con el juego por los 17 casinos con licencia en Chile regis- traron 37,9 millones de dólares en enero, en comparación con los 52,1 millones de dólares en enero del año anterior, lo que supone un descenso del 27,3 por ciento. El sector también registró una bajada significativa en las cifras de visitantes, con una caída del 17,8 por ciento, pasando de 566 933 en enero de 2013 a 466 158 en 2014.
LA OFENSIVA CONTRA EL SECTOR DEL JUEGO ILEGAL en Colombia sigue su curso con la reciente serie de redadas de alto perfil en los barrios de Manrique, Candelaria, San Javier, Guadalupe y Aranjuez, de Medellín. En total, las salas recreati- vas de tragaperras registraron unos ingresos anuales en torno a los 250 000 dólares. Las tragaperras incautadas por el Comité serán destruidas, y a los propietarios no se les permi- tirá operar máquinas tragaperras en los próximos cinco años, y además tendrán que hacer frente a toda una serie de duros cargos penales.
EL FUNDADOR DE CELEBRATION JAMAICA, ROBERT Trotta, ha revelado sus planes de construir un resort integrado por valor multimillonario que incluirá un complejo recreativo con casino en la capital turística de Montego Bay, St. James. «Creemos que el proceso de evaluación definitiva para la con- cesión de una orden de construcción, tal como prescribe el artículo 9 de la Ley sobre el juego en casinos y los reglamen- tos del juego en casinos publicados en 2012 por el Ministerio de Finanzas y Planificación, podría producirse incluso este mismo verano», afirmó el Sr. Trotta.
LA INTRODUCCIÓN DE LA LEY DE CONTROL DEL juego irlandesa podría posponerse hasta 2015, ya que no ha conseguido entrar dentro del calendario parlamentario de este año. Un retraso hasta 2015 implica el riesgo de que dicha ley no consiga concentrar la atención del Parlamento antes de los comicios generales de 2016.
TRES CASINOS GRIEGOS ESTÁN LUCHANDO POR conservar sus licencias después de que la Comisión Helena sobre el Juego recomendara su revocación a causa de las deudas pendientes con el Estado griego. Según el presidente de la Comisión, los casinos de Corfú, Xianthi y la isla de Syros deben perder su licencia salvo que liquiden las deudas. Estos casinos deben un total de 10 millones de euros en pagos de royalties pendientes al Estado griego.
LAWMAKERS EMPHASISE CHANGES
Officials investigating the Mexico gaming sector industry have restated their commitment to work to draft a new law
Mexico - Government
Mexico’s Interior Minister, Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, and Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, head of a com- mittee charged with investigating the gaming industry, have both restated their commitment to work together to draft a new gaming law
In a statement, Osorio Chong commented that in order to accelerate the process both he and Mejía Berdeja have met to discuss the formation of a working group which will be instrumental in advancing the development of a new legal frame- work for the law. The group will be made of the Assistant Secretary for Legislative Liaison and Political Agreements, Felipe Solís Acero, the direc- tor general of Gaming and Raffles Marcela Gonzalez Salas as well as the head of its legal department David Arellano Cuán. Members of the board of the committee currently charged with looking into the industry will also be present dur- ing the drafting of a new law as well as deputies José Arturo Salinas Garza and Agustín Barrios Gómez Segués.
All are agreed that new gaming legislation in Mexico is a matter of increasing urgency and leg- islation should be modern, with clear and trans- parent rules in line with the current needs of the market.
In August 2013 Angel Osorio Chong announced that he and SEGOB would work closely with the
special investigative committee to analyse possi- ble changes to Mexico’s gaming laws. In addition members of one of the most important political parties in Mexico the PRI party (The Institutional Revolutionary Party) are now planning to intro- duce new legislation which would do away with Mexico’s out-dated gaming laws. This was after a meeting between members of SEGOB and sena- tors from the PRI party.
In February this year Osorio Chong reiterated his commitment to new legislation once again when he told press that there were no longer any casi- nos operating outside the terms of their licenses and that Mexico would soon pass a new gaming act which would allow for much further control and transparency when it comes to gaming.
Casinos were first prohibited by President Lazaro Cardenas in 1936 and then along with most other types of gaming (except lotteries and bingos) were permanently banned in the Betting and Raffles Law of 1947. Since then there have been numerous attempts to overturn the act. While impetus is growing to change Mexico’s gaming laws, many efforts to do so have failed in the past and often at the very last hurdle. Only time will tell if this new impetus will prove differently.
Falling casino revenue can’t be blamed on the SWP industry
CHILE In a letter published in the Chilean media, the interest group for the SWP (Skill with Prizes) industry, FIDEN, has reacted strongly to claims made by the casino industry that falling rev- enues are down to the smoking ban and the rise of so called ‘Casinos of the People.’ It is esti- mated that there could be as many as 150,000 slot machines located in slot parlours with a further 50,000 slot machines located in small businesses and shops in Chile. Known locally as ‘casinos of the people’ or ‘neigh- bourhood slots’ they have been able to grow so quickly as local governments have not drawn a clear line between slot machines and Skill with Prizes Machines.
The letter came in responses to recent statements made by Rodrigo Guíñez, Head of The
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Association of Chilean Casinos (ACCJ) who said his association was doing everything in its power to fight illegal gambling in the courts and lobby for change to Chile’s gaming laws so that local authorities would have more powers when it comes to closing down slot machine parlours in their jurisdictions. This is after the Chilean Gaming Control Board (SCJ) reported that gross gaming income generated by the 17 casinos licenced in Chile stood at US$594.8m in 2012 and US$479m in 2013; a 19.5 per cent year on year decrease. The indus- try also reported a significant decrease in visitor numbers with visitors falling by 17.3 per cent. Falling revenues have been blamed on the smoking ban which into effect March 2013 and a rapid increase in illegal slots.
However, in a letter published by
local daily La Tercera the President of FIDEN argued that a clear distinction had to be drawn between both industries and said that the casinos industry could not simply blame falling rev- enues on the SWP industry and the smoking ban.
According to the letter: “The Smoking Law has affected casi- nos as much as they have other commercial industries including the entertainment industry. We don’t see them seeking any kind of compensation. Even more dif- ficult to understand is the com- plaint of less income than they expected by blaming local busi- nesses that operate street slots, which apart from their physical resemblance technically are defi- nitely not slot machines. "
"The entertainment industry with electronic machines is aimed at a public with a middle to lower class income whose amount des- tined for entertainment purposes would hardly stretch to pay the entrance fee let alone play and eat at a casino.”
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