The Chamber of Deputies approved again the postponement for 90 days of the bill that seeks to eliminate the monopoly on the concession of exploitation of games of chance.
The Chamber of Deputies decided yesterday to postpone for 90 days the treatment of the bill that modifies several articles of the law that establishes the legal regime for the exploitation of games of chance, in order to eliminate the current monopoly of the concessions of permits for this kind of activity, such as the lottery, sports betting and others. The leader of the Honor Colorado bench, Rocío Abed (pictured), requested the postponement for three months of the project, which motivated the rejection of the project designers.
According to the local media ABC, when trying to postpone the project, the project designer, Adrián “Billy” Vaesken (PLRA, C), said: “There are 212,000 Paraguayans who do not have work. We have been studying this project for a year, we sent it to the committee, and public hearings were held. We heard that the Government has a bill that puts an end to the monopoly in gambling, but it never sends anything. This bill only wants to remove the word exclusivity, so that this country opens its doors to investors. As the law is, they cannot come to invest in Paraguay”
This bill can help President Santiago Peña achieve the creation of the 500,000 jobs that he promised during his campaign.” For his part, Abed said: “I clarify that we are not in favor of the monopoly, but the Government is preparing a bill.” It should be remembered that the initiative seeks to modify articles 8, 11, 13, 21, 22 and 23 of Law No. 1016/1997, which establishes the legal regime for the exploitation of games of chance, with the purpose of adapting the current law to the requirements of the new times.
The most significant modification is the one that is being sought to be introduced in article 8. It establishes that the concessions will be awarded to the three best bidders in the tenders; and no longer just to one company, as is the case at present, where the concession holder is only the best bidder.
The promoters of the project want the modification to be issued before the end of the year: «As we had asked for a return to the commission, we went back to square one and focused on ending the monopoly. What we want is for it to become law this year because the tender opens in February. If it is not law this year, the monopoly will continue again, » said Vaesken.
