Colombia is a ‘must’ for operators who venture into the Latin American gaming market. Last week Mery Luz Londoño, President of ETESA – the government health organisation with responsibility for the control of gaming in the country – commented on the gaming boom in Colombia. It is hardly surprising, then, that one of the cities most loved by Europeans, Cartagena de Indias on the Caribbean coast, continues to grow its gaming industry with the opening of smart new bingos and casinos.

Recently the investment group Inversiones Unidas del Caribe opened its Casino Bingo Karamba in a prime position on the main avenue Pedro de Heredia in Cartagena. The business has generated 51 direct jobs and offers clients gambling entertainment with a difference. The facility has 80 slot machines and electronic roulettes. Casino Karamba is just the latest gaming venue to open in the city.

Two Spanish companies have invested in gaming operations in Cartagena, renowned for the beauty of its carefully preserved early colonial buildings and a favourite for tourists. Cirsa has opened the completely remodelled Casino Rio on the Avenida San Martín, and Codere last year opened the Casino Fortuna on the same avenue in the Bocagrande district. The original casino in the exclusive zone of El Laguito, once known as Casino del Caribe, is now totally refurbished as Casino La Perla.

It is not just Cartagena where the gaming industry is booming. People in the capital Bogotá, Bucaramanga, Baranquillo, Medellín, and elsewhere are all enjoying a new stability and prosperity. Colombia is a country of culture with a mature legal system, but is still seen to many outsiders as the country of the drugs cartels. The image is slowly improving although there are remaining problems in some remote areas.

Medellín, once considered the cocaine capital of the world and dangerous, is now a city reborn, full of ‘education-minded parks’, as the International Herald Tribune says. Whereas the streets were deserted after nightfall apart from gangs and drug barons, and many citizens relocated to other places, these days there is a vibrant nightlife with dancing until dawn. The gaming industry is flourishing there, too. (E-08.17.07)

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