We talked to Elizabeth Maya, president of Cornazar, an association located in the city of Medellin, which represents 60 gambling companies nationwide, who shared with us a vision of what Coljuegos has been during this new stage with Dr. Cesar Valencia, new president of the entity and what points he should work on to be of help to the localized.
MV: At an international level, how do you see that the regulator has reacted to help casinos, compared to other countries?
Elizabeth Maya (EM): ¨The pandemic brought with it a rethinking of new goals and objectives, accompanied by the uncertainty that has been experienced in the gambling sector in Colombia where we have had to work in a different way looking for strategies to ensure that the industry remains and does not disappear¨.
It is important to know that last year 2020 the sector went through multiple difficulties, due to Covid 19, closures, restrictions, curfews among others; the guild reacted quickly to support in the month of March and act quickly so that the businessmen could suspend the contracts, because we knew that the pandemic would force us to close the commercial establishments where the localized games of chance were operated.
The regulator attended the call of the three unions; Cornazar, Asojuegos and Fecoljuegos, and also the operators in supporting the suspension of such contracts, because the businessman did not have any type of income but the expenses did not stop.
Then came the Reactivation in the month of September, this process brought with it several difficulties, because some were able to activate their contracts in a faster way, other businessmen definitely could not do it, not only because of the different restrictions that were given in the municipality where they operated, but also because of the late processes of the regulating entity, This led many operators to take longer to resume the activity and much less to enjoy the benefits such as access to payment agreements for the exploitation rights, elimination of interests, reduction of the gambling elements and reduction of the exploitation rights for online gambling; Urgent benefits for all, at this moment it was of great merit and importance for the entrepreneur, as its cash flow was highly hit.
Due to the slowness of Coljuegos' processes, the benefit could not be enjoyed by all the businessmen who requested it, which is very sad because the payment agreements were intended to give a respite to the operators, who were forced to borrow money to reactivate their premises and to pay their taxes.
In 2021, with the new president of Coljuegos, some approaches have been made. Since the last week of December 2020, when we made the presentation of Cornazar, as an association, we have presented the different difficulties that the sector presents.
During this year several requests have been made by the guilds, the entity has been asked to achieve a greater articulation within each one of the managements, to improve the communication among them to achieve greater efficiency and effectiveness, a much broader vision for the operation of the concessionaires of localized games, where different game modalities can be offered with the same contract, To have a financial entity which is a friend of the sector, which not only receives the exploitation rights, but also allows the gambling businessman to have access to financial portfolios and finally an urgent call is made to review its technological infrastructure, it is evident that there have been many difficulties in all the procedures needed day by day by the operator who ends up being the only one affected.
With great concern it has been expressed at various times that measures established in the National Development Plan have not been put into practice, such as the correction in the calculation to charge exploitation rights in the Bingos sector, it is necessary to immediately establish Reliability; these actors are quite affected by the pandemic, many of which have disappeared or tend to disappear if they are not given immediate support.
I know that Dr. Cesar Valencia, president of Coljuegos, has expressed his willingness to continue favoring the gambling industry in Colombia and we thank him, but we need faster and more effective actions for the industry to achieve sustainability and growth".
Cornazar has been with the businessmen and Coljuegos in worktables accompanying them in all the difficulties they have with the procedures that are generated daily in the operation.
MV: How have you seen the recovery of the sector since the reopening was approved?
EM: At the beginning it was a reactivation with a lot of uncertainty accompanied by a lot of restrictions that the pandemic brought with it, not being able to operate at 100% of the hours in the gambling establishments for example and much less a total capacity inside the gambling rooms.
Later on, several municipalities and departments began to allow longer hours and a greater capacity of capacity, attracting a larger volume of people in some municipalities than in others. I define them as warriors. I know that we closed 2020 with several operators unable to reopen some establishments, but the vast majority were able to open their doors despite the obstacles and inconveniences that arose.
In 2021 we have seen a different proposal, despite being a year with some restrictions, we have worked hand in hand with the mayor's office, government and some secretaries, trying to preserve the benefit of the opening and also with the commitment of entrepreneurs that we must not forget, to comply with all biosafety protocols.
I believe that at the moment, the reactivation of gambling industry has been significant, we have been as a guild promoting the reactivation of the sector, inviting and accompanying the businessmen to continue with the good use of the biosecurity protocols inside the establishments, to the permanent work within the framework of legality and compliance.
MV: Do you see online casinos as a risk factor for the recovery of physical casinos?
EM: Actually, online gambling and on-site (land-based) gambling are two different gambling modalities, it is important to clarify that. I have always said it and I think I have mentioned it every time I have had the opportunity to talk about this comparison, they are two modalities that can be articulated and can complement each other becoming strategic allies for the operation.
Face-to-face (land-based) and online gambling are two ways of providing satisfaction to the player to satiate the search for entertainment and fun. Online gambling is by its very nature easy to evolve within the framework of the digital transformation that has been brought forward by the pandemic. The face-to-face gambling presents difficulties due to issues of higher costs and premeditated risks to an establishment and a localized concession contract, but it is still very attractive to many people who prefer to visit a place to get different experiences such as socializing with other people and a face-to-face game.
I can affirm that the two gambling modalities can generate synergy and convergence by improving opportunities for players It is also true that the two sectors can find synergies with each other and find ways of convergence generating higher profitability for the operator and for the State.
In the pandemic, we cannot deny that online gambling had a slightly more favorable participation than localized gambling, and has continued to grow its revenues as it has become a much more affordable game on mobile devices.
The new reality that the localized gambler lives, where during the pandemic the localized game was affected by the fear of moving to another place, causing the plans to change allowing the game to be played from smart devices, computers. The digital transformation with 4G and 5G technologies, which we foresaw for a few years, was brought forward by the pandemic, we all had different expectations before this transformation but the pandemic forced us to rethink different objectives.
The localized ones lived a lot of uncertainty in order not to stay at that moment and to survive the challenges left by the pandemic. Those who bet on localized gambling were the most affected and now they are reactivating again these players that have been an important value in their gambling rooms so that they trust again in the on-site, seeking to continue achieving sustainability and growth in the gambling rooms with loyal customers that look for healthy entertainment and fun areas in the physical casinos.
The localized gambling in each casino, bingo, gambling table employs a very valuable human resource that we tried to sustain in many opportunities during the pandemic, now they are supporting to reactivate these players.
MV: What do you think Coljuegos should improve to make processes more efficient and facilitate them?
EM: First of all, as a guild we have made a call to Dr. Cesar Valencia to approach the industry, to really get to know the businessman, to know the types of gambling modalities that the sector has. We have invited him to work hand in hand with the businessman.
The businessman is the strategic ally of Coljuegos, if the sector does well, Coljuegos does well as a regulatory entity, and the resources for health do well... that is the first call, to work in coordination.
Secondly, to improve this internal process of the management, that they communicate, that they work in coordination with each other, that they do not work independently. Because the rest affects the efficiency and effectiveness to carry out a procedure, in constant requests from Cornazar to Coljuegos, we have presented the need for modernization with a friendly technological system and agile, fast processes.
Coljuegos needs to promote the concession contract because it allows to have a range of operation opportunities for the localized gambling form, for example, we have urgently requested that bingo can have the reliability that the localized games sector has already earned, and bingo for being part of this group must obtain and respect the viability of the business.
We have urgently requested the entity to allow us to have other forms of gambling that are important such as the ACDV, we can have virtual betting within the casinos. In view of this situation, it is urgent that the entity expedite these drafts and resolutions that it has at hand, in order to be able to offer players different games through legal establishments.
If we do not do this, we are giving a chance to the illegal ones to offer them, it is an invitation to be more agile.
To support more the processes of legality, to encourage legality, to approach the regions and show the whole country that it is possible to be legal and reliable. That it is also part of the good practices of a country, that it presents itself more as a friendly regulatory entity, that bets on a process of recovery of the activity.
I really hope that the operation will not be complicated again, a new closure would be disastrous, the companies would not be able to withstand another economic impact. We have invited the operators to faithfully comply with the biosafety standards, that we do not lower our guard.
We continue to touch the hand and the financial sector because we continue to be stigmatized, making it difficult to open gambling accounts, the difficulty of financial portfolios persists so that the entrepreneur can enjoy a cash flow to buy new machines.
If we look to the future, the legal businessman is committed with the operations, by facing a pandemic with legality. As a guild we continue to insist that operators continue with payment facilities in the payment rights
