Following the campaign started by the Minister of Foreign Commerce and Tourism (MINCETUR), Mercedes Araoz - to formalise illegal slots operations in Peru and bring them into the tax regime of licensed gaming businesses - during the first weekend of November officers of the gaming commission, aided by local police, raided and closed down a slot machine hall in San Martin in the north of Lima.

The Director of Casinos and Slot Machines at MINCETUR, Manuel San Roman, explained that the owners of the Golden Room slot machines had not complied with the required legislation and had been operating illegally, after having been notified that their application for a licence could not proceed. Inspectors from MINCETUR confiscated 44 slot machines found within the premises.

MINCETUR indicated that another 40 unlicensed slot machine businesses could also be closed in the next few weeks after due process of appeal had been completed. The gaming Director of MINCETUR also said that at weekends the official inspections and closure of illegal operations would intensify.

San Roman was emphatic: “We have been working today, Saturday, and will continue to do so over the following weekends. The slot machines we decommission that have not been officially homologated will be destroyed. At the start of this campaign there were only 27 duly licensed slots operations, now there are 70. These businesses are paying their taxes, and the US$1 million that we were collecting has risen to US$4 million a month.” (E-11.08.07)

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