Once again, the façade of the regulator Coljuegos appears in the news, as happened on July 27, 2023, when the entity's workers protested what they called “political abuses” and announced the creation of the SINTRACOLJUEGOS union.
On this occasion, it was the localized gaming operators in Colombia who expressed their dissatisfaction and frustration at having to go to these bodies, given the ineffectiveness and lack of leadership that Coljuegos is currently experiencing.
As they have reported, this lack of management has even led to micro-entrepreneurs having to close their businesses, which means harm to them and the dismissal of employees.
The sit-in due to the ineffectiveness of Coljuegos began around 10:30 in the morning when dozens of affected people gathered in front of the building where the entity operates and began the protest that was authorized by the government secretariat until late in the day. afternoon of October 2, 2023; As the minutes passed, around 200 protesters joined in, haranguing the right to work, respect and dignity, as well as the resolution of all procedures such as payment facilities, permits, and being responsible for the money that health care is losing due to casinos closed.
The secretary of Coljuegos was the one who initially attended to the protesters on behalf of their president, and they agreed to the express creation of a dialogue table to channel the demands of those located.
At which point the Coljuegos delegate proposes the creation of a commission to enter the building and express their concerns and have them addressed.
Thus, after a little more than 3 hours in which concerns and complaints were exchanged, it was possible, among others, to set a deadline of October 26, 2023 for ALL backlogged procedures to be evacuated, recognizing by the head of the legal office , that there are still 168 procedures that have not been resolved and that will be purged in this period of time.
The priority will be those contracts that have expired and have not been renewed, which has forced them to close; At this point the spokespersons questioned who will be responsible for the consequential damages caused by this situation; This question was not resolved and was left in the hands of the legal department.
Another of the points agreed upon was to streamline the portal so that when expansions are made, only the number of METs that are going to be expanded is processed and not all the inventory that makes up the contract must be processed.
Importantly, the spokespersons highlight that the entity understood the difficulty in obtaining or renewing (which is not the case) the use of land for each of the businesses that are an integral part of the contracts and therefore will accept those already existing; “Which in the eyes of the industry is not a perk, but it is important that Coljuegos has understood it” were some of the comments that were generated in this regard.
In addition to the above, it was agreed to monitor how the processes are going, for which they will meet again within a period of no more than 10 days, as a support so that the deadline of October 26, 2023 is respected. The administrative processes of sanctions, policies and new procedures were also agreed upon and will be part of this next meeting.
Coljuegos at the end of the afternoon sent Press Bulletin No. 27 where he gave a good account of some figures: Coljuegos raised five hundred and sixty-four billion pesos ($564,000,000,000) from January to August 2023; Transfers to health grew by 22.15% compared to the same period of the previous year; The increase in collection was 16.8% compared to the same period of the previous year, 519 procedures have been resolved since July 11.
“It is with the help of the 348 localized games of chance and luck operators, 16 internet-operated games of luck and chance operators and two innovative games operators (Baloto and Super Astro) that we can move towards the modernity that the entity requires. …” the document ended.
During the meeting, the delay was justified by the unclear procedures encountered by the new administration and the “turtle plan” of the unionized officials, a fact that was categorically denied by a union member interviewed; They are nonsense to justify the politicization of the entity, if there are no guidelines we cannot work, he added.
It is expected that in the next meeting the contracts that are delayed or are about to expire will have been evacuated, the truth is that the operators gave a conclusive demonstration that gambling is not a matter of gambling.
