Reports from Ecuador say that work on legal reform to regulate casinos and gaming rooms is underway. According to the Secretary of State, illegal gaming rooms closed as a result of previous crackdowns have reopened because of a constitutional right authorised in 2004 and still in effect. Gustavo Jalkh states that it is necessary to formulate a law to govern all gaming venues and to consult with the public over the proliferation of this type of business.

A proposal will be sent to the Ecuadorian Assembly for a bill to licence casinos and gaming rooms and end the legal vacuum whereby permission to operate is given by municipalities, local governments, and the Ministry of Tourism, which licences casinos. Jalkh commented, “The aim is to bring about just one licensing body to grant permits for casino and gaming room operation.”

The present lack of legislation to control gaming in Ecuador, which allows the intervention of the courts, has led the Minister of Tourism, Verónica Sión, to explain that the company Invermun SA – accused of bribing officials to allow it to continue to function - operates slots rooms and not casinos. Because of this the company cannot be regulated by the Ministry of Tourism, which is specifically authorised to control casinos and bingos. By law these operations can only be sited in approved top-class hotels.

As the newspaper El Universal de Guayaquil stated in an article printed today: “Neither legal provisions nor resolutions from the last Constitutional Tribunal have been able to prevent the continued functioning of Invermun gaming rooms in the country.” Ecuador needs the rapid approval of a new gaming law to ensure that illegal operations can be closed by the authorities and remain closed.
(E-10.23.09)

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