Bolsonaro Wants 20 Year Ban on Casinos SOUTH AMERICA


Chile - New details for casino licences The Head of the Chilean Gaming control Board (SJC) Vivien Villagrán Acuña has revealed more details regarding the upcoming tender process. A number of casino licences are up for renewal meaning that operators can apply for a licence renewal or other operators may put in a bid. The twelve licenses will be available in the O'Higgins, Punta Arenas and the Antofagasta regions, among others regions.


Vivien Villagrán Acuña highlighted the challenges ahead. “It is a slightly more complex tender, with a map with certain characteristics and the first time it was a blank map. Now we have a certain infrastructure that forces us to generate a competitive process, “she said.


When it came to the bidding process, she said that “the SCJ has a maximum of 48 months before the expiration of the operating permit, and a minimum of 36 months to publish the technical bases that will govern the new process, this occurs on 28 July 2020. There are 12 casinos the licenses of which expire between 2023 and 2024.”


Law No. 19,995 (Chile’s casino law) created the board and put new casinos under its control. There are now 19 privately run casinos. Ten years after the establishment of the first privately run casino the SCJ was given the task of developing the licensing process for the called municipal licences - casinos which had been run by the local municipal governments and put them under the supervision of the board.


Now that this is complete the SJC is now launching the third major licensing process.


"When the industry started there were no casinos, they had to be built," she said and had to "provide the infrastructure that was promised in the operating permits and develop comprehensive projects. In this new scenario there will be some people who are challenging or new entrants, who may have no casinos and would like to apply for a permit. And we are going to meet participants who are operating and who, most likely, are interested in renewing their permits. In addition, the economic offer will determine who is awarded or not a certain place.


In the previous process, a comprehensive project was evaluated where the economic offer was not taken into account. A third factor will be that we now have certain places available, not the entire country as in the previous process. And we have a law in force that requires us to safeguard three basic conditions: that those casinos meet quotas in certain regions, we will never be able to have three casinos in one region, the casinos are not within a distance of less than 70 road kilometres and that casinos cannot be awarded in the Metropolitan region.”


Earlier in April, the SJC opened up the consultation stage of the draft of the Technical Bases of the Process for Granting Operating Permits 2020 for comments from industry and citizens. Once the public consultation stage is complete, the responses will be collected, a summary of the main clarifications along with the definitive terms and conditions will be published and the process will be officially initiated.


P10 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA


Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, performs a volte-face, stating that he’s against the development of casino gaming in the country


Bolsonaro said that he would “be satisfied” to see casinos remain banned for at least another 20 years.


BRAZIL LEGISLATION


President Jair Bolsonaro has said that he is against the development of casinos in Brazil. He confirmed that he was against casinos over fears that they would lead to an increase in money laundering. Bolsonaro was talking on Programa do Ratinho, broadcast on SBT, the second-most watched television network in Brazil where he also argued (incorrectly) that it was up to the President if gaming laws should be changed. It is one of the few occasions he has addressed the issue directly in public.


“I think that this proposal cannot be discussed in Brazil, because money will be laundered here . . . Casinos in my government, this issue is not discussed. In fact, it is my sole responsibility to deal with this matter; it is covered by the Constitution. Twenty, thirty, forty years from now is another story,” he said adding that he would “be satisfied” to see casinos remain banned for at least another twenty years


Legalising gaming is actually up to the National Congress through a bill. Te president must sanction the bill, can veto it in part or in full but Congress may overturn the presidential veto. In August Bolsonaro (although he was not directly quoted on the issue) was believed to have come


out in favour of legalising gambling in casinos after expressing his opinions during a meeting with Deputy Newton Cardoso Jr, president of the Tourism Commission of the Chamber of Deputies. According to local press Bolsonaro said that he was in favour of the legalisation of casinos in Brazil, and said that it should be down to each state to set up its own gambling laws.


Te far-right President and ex-soldier took office on January 1 2019. While there have been a number of reports which argued that he may well have allowed for pro gaming laws Bolsonaro has remained largely silent on the issue both in the lead up to his election victory and afterwards as well.


Speculation had, however, been growing that Bolsonaro’s intention was to identify the areas where it would be possible to generate more jobs and generate the highest taxes, but he has not wanted to antagonise his evangelical support base. However, he strongly denied supporting any pro-gaming Laws in a live Facebook feed during his election campaign when he said that an expansion of gambling in the country would lead to money laundering and would harm families.


Mexico Raffle for Presidential plane will go ahead


Te President of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced that the lottery offering the Presidential plane as a prize will go ahead despite the current crisis. Te raffle will be held on September 15, and the amount collected will be used for medical equipment to supply public hospitals he said. “We are going to raffle the presidential plane that is not going to stop. On September 15, the presidential plane will be raffled, because it has been held since before the epidemic, and the purpose that what was obtained from the raffle of that plane was for medical equipment,” he said.


Te draw organised by the National Lottery will encompass the delivery of 100 prizes of 20 million pesos, which will be financed with the resources seized from crime by the Attorney General of the Republic. Non- essential activities have been


suspended in order to avoid the spread of COVID, including the sale of lottery tickets. However, a large number of lottery tickets for the raffle were also purchased by Mexican officials and businessmen as part of a fundraiser.


In January Te Mexican president showed the image of the lottery ticket with which he said he intended to “raffle” the presidential plane and obtain resources to buy medicines and medical equipment. Obrador insisted on raffling the luxurious presidential plane in case the government was unable to find a buyer. May 5th had been slated as the possible date of the draw, but it has been delayed.


Te Boeing 787-8 was originally purchased for US $218m in 2012 and has been held up by the left wing President as an example of fiscal irresponsibility during previous administrations.


Mexico


Lawmakers in the state of Tabasco in the southeast of Mexico have increased taxes on gambling. Te increase is now in effect after it was approved by members of the Finance Commission in the State Congress. Te president of the commission, Braulio Exequias Escalante Castillo, stated that proposals to reform the Finance Law ensure that "those with more pay more." Te lawmaker said that the tax for each gaming machine would increase from $600 to $1,300. Taxes on alcoholic drinks in casinos will also increase. However the president of the Business Coordinating Council of Tabasco, Luis Alberto Rodríguez Luna, remained optimistic saying that the new taxes would not lead to layoffs and that the industry would be able to put in measures to help reduce the impact on the sector.


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