Speaking during GET in Chile, Vivien Villagrán Acuña, superintendent of the regulator, the Superintendencia de Casinos y Juegos (SCJ), confirmed that the regulator is working with both communes to redraft the special conditions for their respective licence tenders.
“The special conditions are particular characteristics which are established by the municipalities,” she explained. “We’re evaluating the reasons why there weren’t any offers during the first tender, so we can adjust them before the next licencing process.
“In the case of Natales, the municipal authorities have already decided to [remove the requirement] for an events centre which was included in the first tender. In Arica, there is a key discussion about the eventual location of the casino,” Villagrán Acuña continued. “These are some of the questions that we must resolve with the [two] municipalities.”
Rodrigo Guíñez Saavedra, head of the Chilean Casino Association (ACCJ), highlighted the need for changes to the tender requirements in order to make the licences more attractive for operators.
“If the process repeats with the same requirements, it will once again fail to attract interest,” he contended. “We can’t describe the [municipal licence tender] as successful given that it only had two bidders: Enjoy and Sun Dreams. For this reason, I believe that we must change the whole licensing system looking forward to the next concession renewal.”
Chile’s northernmost city, Arica, is the only region in the country able to host more than one casino, thanks to a legal exception (Ley 19.669).
“We inherited a very unattractive tender for any concessionaire, which unfortunately puts the continuing operation of the casino at risk,” said Arica’s mayor, Gerardo Espíndola, speaking last year. “For us it is essential that we do not to lose the casino, since it a source of income for the Municipality and because of the employment generates for the local economy.”
Source: GMB / Casino Review
