The Colombian national government issued the decree 1076 of July 28, which established, among others, the approval for pilot tests of casinos as well as bars and other businesses, as religious agglomeration activities.
This is a first step for various industries that will offer entertainment to Colombians, with strict city measures and special emphasis on gauging control.
During this new stage, pilot tests were authorized for bars, casinos, billiards, casinos and gambling terminals with the application of all biosafety protocols, in municipalities that do not have cases of COVID-19 or low numbers. of cases.
These NON-COVID-19 or low-impact municipalities, according to information from July 27, 2020, are a total of 665, representing 60% of the country's municipalities, located in 30 of the country's 32 departments.
However, for the pilot tests of casinos, a series of steps or aspects must be followed. Starting with the acceptance of the mayor of the municipality where the pilot test will take place, who will decide:
- The percentage or number of casinos that may be part of the program or test over the total that exist there.
- The number of days that the pilot test will last.
These casinos that will be part of the pilot test must send the document with the biosafety protocol that they will implement to their respective ARL. This entity will approve or deny the protocol, requesting a series of extra measures in the event that its response is the second.
Once this first approval is received from the Medical associated companies, the protocol must be presented to the mayor for a second evaluation.
The protocols must be based on Decree 666 of April 24, 2020, however, extra care measures can be added at the discretion of each operator.
All the pilot tests will be under the supervision and verification of compliance by the Ministry of the Interior and Health.
Regarding the disinfection elements, it is of utmost importance that they have the content information on their packaging, since in antibacterial gels the concentration must be between 60% and 89% alcohol.
And for elements such as quaternary ammonium used for the disinfection of machines, shoes and others, you must specify the amount of dose that must be applied to fulfill its function, since in visits to casinos previously for the verification of protocols these points have been where the government has seen failures.
Finally, to activate slot machines for the pilot tests, each operator must send to Coljuegos the request to lift the suspension of said machines.
However, the regulatory entity has not yet come forward to clarify whether operators should pay taxes for the days this activity is carried out.
