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Latino America
Ricki brings the news from gaming hotspot Latino America in his monthly English language column…
It’s just a few days before we arrive in England for the London Show, which is now called International Gaming Expo – IGE 2009. The change of name is a move in the right direction, as ICE was a bit too obvious for January. It's bad enough with arctic weather conditions in the UK’s capital city, but no-one needs reminding of what makes teeth chatter, unless it's on the rocks in a single malt.
Conversely, the Southern Cone of South America gets hotter by the hour, and not only on account of Opposition leader Eliza Carrio, who has called Argentine ex president Nestor Kirchner all the names under the sun for supposedly "colluding with casino mogul Cristobal Lopez in the exploitation of casino business in Argentina."
Carrio's attack followed Buenos Aires province’s governor Mauricio Macri's refusal to extend gaming in the Argentine capital city, saying that the project would “endorse a business” controlled by the national Government with "an enormous lack of transparency".
In the middle of all this, in neighbouring Uruguay the Montevideo local government declared Codere-Sofitel as the winner of the tender for the legendary Hotel Casino Carrasco just as the year ended. Immediately runners up Hyattt-Liberman denounced the result as fraud (please read below a few more lines on this).
As Government revenues run dry, gaming is seen as the obvious cash cow, and for this Uruguay has announced tenders for 13 casinos throughout the country. Next door, in land locked Paraguay, the local gaming commission gets ready to name the winner of the tender for the second Asuncion casino.
For our part, we just can't wait to go back to Mexico, where the Gaming and Lotteries Department of State (Gobernacion) Sub Commission at Congress approved last December what amounts to the decentralization of operating licensing, whilst a few weeks ago the Department of Tourism G&L Sub Commission got down to sponsoring a White Paper to approve casino games, as played in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mexico is where it's at!
Cheers,
Ricki.
Mexican politicians take the bull by the horns
With the aims of eradicating corruption in the emission of licences and of bringing standards to betting and lotteries, federal politicians from the PSD, PAN and PRD parties, members of the Sub-commission of Gaming from the Tourism Commission, have presented an initiative to regulate gambling games such as roulette, dice, card games, slot machines and other casino betting games as well as horse and greyhound racing.
The initiative, sponsored by the sub-commission president Armando García Méndez (PSD), has been sent to the Tourism Commission with the purpose of stimulating both federal and local growth in the generation of employment and investment in social and economic programmes, particularly in the communities where entertainment centres are opened.
The politicians want to expedite a new Federal Gaming and Betting Law, in a bid to bring about national standards in the Mexican gaming industry under a transparent legal framework. This would bring certainty to gamblers and impede irregularities in the sector. The present law dates from 1947 and has been described by legislators as being obsolescent following the technological advances made in the gaming industry.
The politicians concerned said in a statement: “We know that some permits have been issued by underhand means both in the application of standards and the emission of licences by the authorities, which leads to the gaming industry being in irresponsible hands. These take no account of social issues, give no legal certainty and bring no benefits to the community.”
Report supports tender results for Hotel Casino Carrasco
In the war of words and press releases that threatens the validity of the tender process in Uruguay for Montevideo’s art deco Hotel Casino Carrasco, Martin Cánepa, director of Bahia Verde S.A. – winner of the tender, said that the official report from the National Development Corporation (CND) does not disqualify Bahia Verde investors, Spanish gaming operators Codere and French hotel group Accor-Sofitel.
Cánepa said: “They say that we should not have qualified, but one thing is to have a negative opinion about something and quite another is to say ‘this did not happen’.
Cánepa, who also represents Codere in Uruguay and is ex president of Hipica Rioplatense, the company that operates the casino at the Maroñas race track, told local media that Codere is committed to Uruguay “and we intend to stay put”.
In the CND report, the comments on the Bahia Verde investors’ global credentials were supportive of Codere’s vast operating expertise in Uruguay and of Hipica Rioplatense’s track record in the South American country. The CND report on Bahia Verde’s proposal said that the consolidated accounts of each, Codere and Sofitel through subsidiaries, were able to engage in economic and financial commitments (notwithstanding heavy financial leverage) on the tender project.
Immediately after the opening of the first part of the tender, last year on December 10, the legal representative of Dongara Investments Inc., owned by the hoteliers Hyatt and Grupo Liberman - runners up in the tender, said that the three other candidates did not comply with the tender regulations. The reasons offered ranged from the economic package right down to the design of the historic building.
Guillermo Arcani, Codere Projects director said that Hyatt’s claims were not correct and that Codere was perfectly suited and qualified to take part in the tender for the Hotel Casino Carrasco. After the first stage, Bahia Verde got 47.06 points, Tsakos was second with 46.21 points, Hyatt-Liberman third with 31.40 points and Pestana Group last with 26.81 points.
Following the Hyatt-Liberman objections, the Montevideo Municipal Government (IMM) continued the tender process confirming that there had not been any inconsistency and that all four candidates were qualified to carry on with the second stage of the tender that dealt with gaming tax offers. At the end of the month, the tax offers were opened and Bahia Verde was declared the adjudicated tender winner of the Hotel Casino Carrasco for a period of 30 years. The result has been submitted to the State council for its confirmation.
Gran Casino de Talca opens in Chile
The Chile Gaming Commission gave Gran Casino de Talca the green light on 26 December 2008 to open to the public, after a strenuous compliance test. The latest casino to open in Chile, with a US$8.4 million investment, has 400 gaming machines, 15 gaming tables and 60 bingo positions, as well as a bar and restaurant.
The rest of the project includes a 4-star hotel, conference centre, spa, gym, indoor swimming pool, a commercial centre, bowling, bars, restaurant and a kiddies entertainment area. We are happy to see that Marco Chavez is the Gaming Director and is assisted by Evelyn Barton as Slots Director, Miguel Padró as Tables Director and Cesar Valladares as Cage Operations Director. The Gran Casino de Talca project is generating 302 jobs.
FADJA signs strategic alliance for 2009
3A Producciones, the company organizing the Andean Gaming Expo FADJA 2009 that will take place during 22-23 April in Bogota, Colombia, has announced that it has entered into an important strategic alliance with Diper Exhibition. This prestigious company will be in charge of booth design and construction and available to all FADJA exhibitors who agree to participate.
FADJA will also offer expo services from Stock Models, one of the most important fashion and TV model agencies in the region. On the catering side, FADJA has secured the services of Café Gourmet, a quality F&B local firm.
SAGSE exhibited in IGE 2009
Monografie S.A., had an important expo at the London Show IGE 2009, where both SAGSE Panama and SAGSE Buenos Aires received the European public at large. According to Monografie: “SAGSE Buenos Aires is the only Argentine international professional gaming expo dedicated to exhibit everything needed for the installation of traditional and online casinos, bingos, lotteries, gaming rooms, mobile betting, training and every advanced gaming system”.
In a 17-year run of impeccable service to the industry, SAGSE has positioned itself as the third expo in the world, after the mega events in Las Vegas and London. During the last edition in Buenos Aires, SAGSE had 190 exhibitors in nearly 66,000 square feet of expo area at Centro Costa Salguero, as well as 8,000 visitors from all over the world. SAGSE is the principal gaming expo in Latin America.
