Paraguay’s gambling lobby has stated that the government must finalise Law-1016 in order to proceed with a tender guaranteeing exclusive rights to operate a nationwide sports betting franchise.
Demands follow Conajzar, Paraguay’s Gambling Commission, announcing at the start of September that it had launched a tender that will give stewardship for a company/consortium to run a sports betting franchise granted by the federal government.
Conajzar was criticised for bypassing government authorities to announce the tender to national media, in which it promoted a campaign that disclosed that competing suitors would be announced on 31 October.
Paraguayan gambling trade body APOJA lambasted Conajzar for promoting a tender with limited requirements on competition rules and transparency as to how competing parties will be judged on merits.
APOJA President Anibal Salomón cited that Conajzar had published a tender with the knowledge that Paraguayan Law-1016 on gambling required finalising to determine how Paraguay should operate its sports betting regime.
Further concerns were raised as to how Conajzar would judge the terms of the tender competition to carry no favour with Daruma Sam – Paraguay’s sole sports betting concession that currently operates Aposta.LA betting hops within the capital municipality of Gran Asunción.
Law-1016 was updated in 2015 to include legislative interpretations for online gambling, and to update Paragauy’s laws on casino and gambling machines, with legislation designed to help national crime agencies combat illicit and black-market activities.
As such, Law-1016 carries a limited interpretation for sports betting as “activities in which an amount of money is risked on the results of a to-be-determined sporting event, with an uncertain outcome and unrelated to the parties involved”.
Daruma Sam responded to accusations of favouritism, stating that it had no knowledge that Conajzar would announce a tender.
Legal counsellor Carlos Sacco stated that Daruma Sam could not comment on whether it would apply to compete for the national franchise as “bidding terms and conditions have not even been published.”
However, Daruma Sam underlined its support for Conajzar and its rights to launch a tender, as Law-1016 asserts any gambling service must be “granted by a public tender offering”, mirroring national concessions granted for lotteries, arcade halls and the distribution of gambling machines.
Last year, Daruma Sam’s management of Aposta.LA came under investigation by the Secretariat for the Prevention of Money Laundering. The company was accused of allowing betting shops to serve as a ‘money laundrette’ ’for disgraced Paraguayan businessman Marco Trovato to launder millions of dollars.
Source: SBC News
