Bogotá, October 19, 2021
Doctor
Cesar Augusto Valencia
Coljuegos
City
Dear Sir
Given the publication of the draft resolution by which the conditions of reliability of the electronic slot machines (MET) and the gradualness in its implementation are established, I consider that it is important that you and the public opinion take into consideration the points of view of those of us who are directly involved in the day to day development of the Gambling industry, in the localized modality; Since it is this line of business that will be directly affected and that endangers thousands of jobs, and what is even more worrisome, the ruin for hundreds of entrepreneurs who have bet on free enterprise and their commitment with the resources for the health of Colombia.
Although the function of the entity you preside is to administer the income produced by the gambling companies at the national level as well as the creation of new strategies and modalities to generate income, it is not by suffocating a sector with impertinent and inopportune dispositions that an increase of the same will be achieved, if this is the real purpose of the mentioned resolution which rather looks like a simple administrative act which only complies with the requirements of the law and which is signed to leave a precedent of management without any analysis whatsoever.
For a couple of years, it has been foreign companies and international laboratories who have been talking to the President and his team to push forward a project such as the one you are proposing, with the argument that in this way the industry will be clearer and will be an example for other jurisdictions in the world.
It is known by many that it will be these companies and these laboratories who will fish in troubled waters, given the nature of some and the lack of market for their products for others. Perhaps this next Dr Valencia surely you have heard it in the private company where you have worked quite successfully and that is that "the best management is the one that continues if you do not know the environment" and it is this environment tuned by localized games for over 15 years, created and adjusted to the tastes of the local consumer, which is sui generis, and why not to say endemic, which has translated into billionaire contributions, with a legal and responsible growth (before the pandemic of course) and which places Coljuegos in the international scenario as an example of joint work with excellent legalization results, is the one that must be protected.
In this writing it is not pertinent to provide figures of who, which, how many will be or are those that will close in the coming years, since it is incumbent upon your office to have them, as a detailed study should be available in this regard. My purpose is to dust off Resolution 20164000006944 which has not seen the light of day since 2016 and has all the goodness of a win/win from any point of where you look at it:
- Illegal gambling on the street is 100%, as there is no stimulus not to continue this way.
- The number of illegal gambling elements in the street is 70% of the number of legal elements located.
If this figure is taken and their legalization is allowed, Coljuegos' collection would benefit by channeling resources that currently do not enter its coffers, which would almost double if localized and routing machines were added. In jurisdictions such as the United States, pre- and post-pandemic, establishments with illegal gambling machines have skyrocketed and many states have initiated their legalization as a matter of urgency and are generating income for the communities where these companies operate.
There is an erroneous theory that the machines on the road compete against the casinos, which has no taxable support, being two different scenarios that are not juxtaposed, that flow in parallel and that at the end of the exercise dynamize the industry.
In fact, it is in these moments where illegal gambling is hitting hard the legal ones and, in some areas, it even threatens to displace them.
Resolution 20164000006944 is an excellent strategy if the above is analyzed: it has everything and much more of what is proposed in" the draft resolution by which the conditions of reliability of the electronic slot machines (MET) and the gradualness in its implementation are established". If it is put into operation and its application is encouraged, it would mark a milestone in the legalization of the street market, undoubtedly one more excellent move for Coljuegos and therefore for you as its President.
As a manufacturer company of Gambling Machines, with 31 years of experience, time in which we have accompanied all our friends since their beginnings, we have been witnesses of the journey of several institutions that preceded Coljuegos; we publish this letter with the intention of creating a space that generates solutions that do not put at risk the delicate balance in the localized games that so far have not recovered and that will take time to do so.
This letter gives a good account of a unique tool that has already been agreed but has not been used, Resolution 20164000006944 is on the verge of being resolved, it only remains to act on a technicality, of which there is already a legal precedent; and meanwhile the localized games would continue to breathe.
Cordially
German Cardona +
