CR83-p18-America S&C:SJC-Casino Review 23/8/09 02:37 Page 1
internationalcasinoreview
New VIP room
at Santa Fe
A new VIP lounge has been
opened at the Santa Fe Casino
in Argentina, exactly a year
after the casino opened its
News
doors. Invited guests can play
poker, mini punto banco,
blackjack and roulette but can
also relax in comfortable
armchairs and watch TV,
sample the buffet or order free
drinks. The casino saw 3.5m
SOUTH & CENTRAL AMERICA
visitors in its first year, of which
more than 30 per cent were
from outside the city.
Ex-president Ernesto Pérez Balladares is at the heart of allegations that he helped a gaming company gain unfair advantage and avoid
taxation, possibly to his own benefit. The Panamanian subsidiary of Cirsa is also caught up in what may become a major scandal.
Former president implicated
in casino licence corruption
hardgraft La Prensa claimed it has Thayer has denied any con- to find out what really hap-
PANAMA uncovered evidence that nection with Lucky Games, pened, especially with those
under the terms of contract, although the car he drives, the limited companies that went
A potentially long-running Lucky Games was exempted newspaper announced, is reg- through a consolidation
legal and political storm is from paying the state to istered to the company: it has process, like in the case of the
brewing amid allegations of acquire the licence, while been confirmed, however, that gaming company Cirsa.”
corruption against the former others had to pay millions of he and Pretelt are board The Commission will look
president of the country, dollars, and that the company members of Panama Cirsa.That at all licensed gaming compa-
Ernesto Pérez Balladares, paid only ten per cent on its company’s general manager nies in order to establish
involving former members of gross income as tax. Under Helios Navarro told La Prensa whether any changes of own-
the Gaming Commission. such favourable terms, said the that the men were offered the ership have been properly
The La Prensa newspaper paper, the company expanded positions because “both are recorded: it promises to
has accused Pérez Balladares hugely with annual revenues successful entrepreneurs and impose the appropriate sanc-
of granting a gaming licence in 1999 at $10m (E7m) now are basically involved in giving tions if not.
to a company of which minis- coming ten times higher as the their input regarding eco- This is not the first time
ters and close associates were company operates casino-stan- nomic issues.” that former president Pérez
directors, Lucky Games, which dard machines in dozens of The accusations have stung Balladares has been accused
was, it is alleged, subsequently venues. the Gambling Commission of involvement in corrup-
acquired by Gaming & Serv- Central to the allegations into examining the owner- tion: charges that he made
ices of Panama, a subsidiary of are that the former housing ship of all casino and gaming money from a company that
Spanish operator Cirsa. minister Roosevelt Thayer and hall operators in the country. illegally took over ports and
According to the newspa- the former president’s son-in- It is starting with Lucky waterway services were dis-
per, the contract was awarded law Enrique Pretelt are on the Games and will also examine regarded by judges in the
just months after the president board of Lucky Games and the the company’s concession in Supreme Court, many of
announced that private opera- company that is said to have the light of the allegations whom were appointed by
tors would be allowed into the bought it, Panama Cirsa. The after being ordered to do so Balladares.
casino industry and ratified true ownership of Lucky by the Economy and Finance
the licence for Lucky Games Games is unclear, says the Minister Alberto Vallarino.
Facing questions: former
just a week before the end of paper, and Thayer and Pretelt He said: “We need to make
president Ernesto
his term of office in 1999. may front for someone else. an exhaustive search of the file Pérez Balladares
Legal wrangles
Paraguay tender
continue over Carrasco
process begins
in August
the Spanish international the Hyatt-Liberman consor- betterlate
The concession to operate the beachfront
Hotel Casino Carrasco was awarded to
operator that won the tium, Marcelo Graniero of PARAGUAY
Codere and its partner Sofitel in April
tender, had “sufficient finan- Dongara Investments, has
cial strength”. said that his group had The Paraguayan national gaming commission Conajzar
However, the authorities appealed against the granting will launch a long-delayed licensing process for 11
that granted the licence have of the concession to Codere. casinos in the country by the end of August, the new
said that the bidding process The 30-year licence to commission head Patricia Marchewka has announced.
was unaffected by the court’s operate the iconic venue in Under the terms of a law passed in 1997, licences will
findings and that the deci- the Uruguayan capital has be awarded initially for the capital Asunción, seven for
sion will stand. been the subject of contro- the Central region and one each for the Cordillera, Itapuá
A representative of the versy ever since the tender and Alto Paraná regions.
city, Jorge Rodríguez, said the was announced with com- The move marks a new effort to control the casino
comments by the court peting bidders vociferous industry in Paraguay. From September, Conajzar intends
“contain no new elements” in their denigration of rival to crack down on unlicensed venues: the new licences,
and that these questions bids. Hyatt-Liberman was says the commission, will then be strictly monitored.
“have already been answered particularly incensed that Marchewka said: “This move will allow the private
several times”. it scored lower than sector to get hold of legal licences for up to five years
battleroyal decision was announced. In Codere, which operates Codere in the points-based and to be able to do business quietly.”
URUGUAY the latest legal bout, the casinos, bingo halls and slot assessment of bids in She added: “All the licences mandated in the law will
National Audit Court has said arcades across Latin America, January, claiming that the be granted. I don’t know why they have not been offered
Court action over the award that that municipality of Spain and Italy, also runs the city would lose millions of in the past but they will be offered this month.”
of the licence to operate the Montevideo awarded the Maroñas National Hippo- dollars over the licence In February the Paraguayan president fired
Hotel Carrasco Casino is con- licence without assuring drome in Montevideo. period if its own applica- Marchewka’s predecessor after allegations surrounding
tinuing, months after the itself that the Codere Group, A member of failed bidder tion was not successful. the award of a second casino licence in Asunción.
18 September 2009 • south¢ralamericanews
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